Construction on Salt Lake City’s new public safety building is now at the halfway mark. Officials celebrated the on Friday by placing the highest steel beam on the four-story building, which will house the city police and fire departments. Salt lake City Police Chief Chris Burbank says he recently stood in the space that will be his office and marveled at the significance of the structure.
“The idea that a year from now we will actually have a building designed and built for the police department to function in is really a significant thing because we’ve never had that in our history and simple things that you take for granted," he says. Like not putting the suspects and the witnesses and victims of a crime on the same elevators and those type of things.”
Burbank says the central location will also allow the department to be a more effective partner with the city and the public.
The new building is east of the Salt Lake City library at 475 South and 300 East. It’s slated for completion in June 2013.