FRANKLIN — The Thursday morning sun shined bright as Franklin Police Department officers, local government leaders and members of the public gathered for the department’s new police campus opening ceremony.

“It’s time for a new police” station, Police Chief Roger Solomon said.

The department’s old facility was built in 1991 and is one block off Franklin’s square. When the station was built, FPD had around 12 officers. Now, the department has 25 full-time officers and several detectives.

“Even back then with 12 officers, it was very jam-packed,” Solomon said. “The city has grown exponentially in the last 20 years or so. It’s just time.”

Solomon said the department has a large focus on “community policing,” and the new station will help address that mission.

“Not only does it fit the functionality and needs that we need inside,” Solomon said. “But we have a lot of things that … are going to grow in the future and allow us to really centrally focus on community policing.”

The station can house up to 33 officers. It includes office space for officers and detectives along with locker rooms and areas for community meetings, fitness, vehicle repair, evidence storage and police interviews.

Solomon said the station also includes a small, air-conditioned space for Shadow, the department’s K-9. Personnel with the department will fully move into the facility in around two weeks.

Missing are jail cells and holding facilities. Solomon said this is “due to insurance and liability.” Arrested persons are currently lodged in the Simpson County Detention Center, maintained by the Simpson County Sheriff’s Department.

Kenton Powell, city manager, said the total cost for the building was $10 million – $6 million was saved up by the city starting around 2015, with the remainder being bonded.

Powell echoed Solomon’s focus on the “community” aspect of the station. Powell said the idea kept “evolving and evolving” throughout the planning process.

“How do we get people of all ages on this campus to intermingle with different people?” Powell said. “This is what we’ve got.”

Powell said the Franklin City Commission has not yet decided on the future of the current police station.

Eight acres of land were purchased for both the station itself and the outdoor public spaces, which will feature basketball courts, a playground area and walking paths.

Plans are also in store to rehabilitate a building next to the station currently owned by the African American Heritage Center.

Franklin Mayor Larry Dixon said the new station’s location at 501 W. Madison St. provides increased security for the five schools in Franklin, in addition to supporting community outreach.

“If there’s an accident or a need for a policeman, they can be at one of our schools within one minute of time,” Dixon said.

Dixon said the station was built “not out of a want, but out of a need” for Franklin, and hopes the facility will make FPD an attractive entity for law enforcement officers in Kentucky.

“I feel like policemen in Kentucky, if they were looking for a job, this place right here would be a place that they would want to come and work,” Dixon said. “We wanted a building that would be very efficient, very well located and a building that would keep our community going for many years to come.”