Now that the Lathrop Police Department in River Islands is nearly completed, the city is facing a new question – what to put inside of the first purpose-built police facility in the city’s history.

On Monday the Lathrop City Council solved that problem by approving a purchase order for nearly $110,000 to outfit the state-of-the-art facility – which was designed by LDA Partners, the architectural firm behind the Lathrop Generations Center, Manteca Transit Center, and a number of San Joaquin County fire stations – with all the things that it needs to be operational and serve the needs of a growing community.

According to the staff report prepared for the consent calendar item that was before the newly-installed council, DLD Design and Consulting’s bid of $95,406 plus a 15 percent contingency in the amount of $14,311 was approved by the council for a total not-to-exceed amount of $109,717.

Funding for the purchase was approved in the 2020/21 budget.

The purchase order will include funding for new workstation cubicles, tables, office chairs, bookcases, general and fireproof document storage files, desks, a wardrobe cabinet, and a podium. Because this is the first time that the department’s entire operational staff will be under the same roof, additional furniture is needed to provide adequate workspace for police department staff.

The contract will also include the delivery, assembly, and installation of all furniture necessary for the operation of the police department.

The facility will be the third to serve as the headquarters of the Lathrop Police Department – which operates under a contract with the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office – since the city incorporated. For more than a decade the department occupied space on the campus of the J.R. Simplot Company before relocating to a small commercial building on 7th Street that housed the department until the city and the landlord failed to renegotiate a lease for the agency. For more than a year the department has operated out of the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office in French Camp, and all officers and equipment will be transitioned into the new facility once it is operational.

In addition to putting the department in a more centralized location – while it will be moving away from “Historic Lathrop” it will be right in the middle of the community once River Islands is fully built out – it will also provide amenities that officers assigned to Lathrop have never enjoyed like the use of a weapons armory and ample workspace.

To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.