SPRINGDALE — Arkansas State Police will go back to the drawing board once again, seeking a new plan to consolidate Troop L operations in Northwest Arkansas.
State police officials have been trying since 2005 to find a new home for the troop, said spokesman Bill Sadler. The idea is to consolidate several different state police functions at one site.
“We’ve been looking for options and alternatives,” Sadler said. “We want to put all our operations under one roof.”
Patrol operations for Troop L are based on 48th Street, just off the intersection of Interstate 540 and U.S. 412. Investigators, however, are based at the larger Troop H headquarters in Fort Smith. The troop’s tractor-trailer driver testing takes place at Northwest Technical Institute in east Springdale.
Investigators need not only office space, but a dedicated evidence room in Northwest Arkansas to cut down on transportation costs, said Sgt. Kim Warren of Criminal Investigation Company D.
“Right now, our investigators up there sort of have to find their own spot, whether they can ask for space in a local PD or a Sheriff’s Office or something,” she said. “If we had space for them, and a secure evidence room big enough for both investigations and patrol, it would be a huge advantage over what we have now. Our people spend a lot of time driving.”
The latest consolidation plan, a proposed partnership with the Arkansas Department of Correction to build a multiagency facility somewhere in Springdale, evaporated earlier this month when the proposal was denied a federal stimulus allocation.
“Right now, there’s nothing in the cards. We can’t do it financially on our own,” Sadler said. “This wasn’t the first option we explored, and it won’t be the last.”
NTI has hosted commercial truck-driver testing since 2004, said George Burch, school president.
“It’d be fine here, as far as I’m concerned, but they can certainly move it if they think that’s best,” Burch said. “Whatever helps the citizens of the area, we’ll go along with that.”
There are no plans to move Troop L until a consolidated site can be found, Sadler said.
The troop has been based on 48th Street since the early 1980s, shortly after it was split off from Troop H, said Capt. Lance King, Troop L commander.