Sheriff's office readies for move

PORTALES, N.M. (KRQE) - The Roosevelt County Sheriff’s Office will soon move into a new home, after county commissioners an approved the relocation on Tuesday.

The last time the sheriff's department had a new building was 1987.

Since then, the office and the community have grown considerably and the county now has a population of 18,000.

When an abandoned National Guard armory became available, Sheriff Darren Hooker jumped at the chance to lease it.

“We started looking into it and took several tours of it, and then got the paperwork started,” Hooker said.

The current building houses the police, the sheriff’s department and jail personnel. That’s 85 people packed into a small building.

“There’s numerous opportunities and we just felt it was a great deal for the county,” County Manager Charlene Harden said.

Harden said the new building could be used as a training facility or a medical clinic in the case of a disaster.

“We had a flu clinic this past fall that we did in tents outside the hospital. This would be an ideal location to be used as a medical surge facility,” Harden said.

Hooker won’t set a timeline for the move, but said he hopes to be situated as soon as possible. He admits that it might take some time.

“There’s some hurdles we’re going to have to jump through," Hooker said.

These include small things like setting up phone service and getting everything packed up and moving.

However, the price on the new lease is relatively inexpensive. It will cost the county $1 a month for 20 years and $5,000-$6,000 a year for maintenance.