Sheriff Tom Knight hails efficiency and accessibility of new $17 million facility

SARASOTA — People huddled beneath canvas tents, umbrellas, and rain jackets to get out of the rain on Saturday, craning their necks to hear Sheriff Tom Knight welcome them to the new $17 million headquarters of the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office.

“With nearly 60 percent of our workforce under one roof, we now have an array of services and sections all housed together,” Knight said in a speech before the official ribbon cutting. “Your Sheriff’s Office has grown more efficient, more professional and most importantly accessible to the public.”

The 71,160-square-foot campus at 610 Cattleridge Boulevard will become a “one-stop shop” for all of the sheriff’s forensics units — chemists, digital and fingerprint specialists.

“As a community and demands on our public safety continued to grow, we began looking to the future needs of the agency and soon realized the space we were in would not accommodate the growth of your sheriff’s office,” he said.

Members of the SWAT team, emergency response teams, mounted patrol, canine and aviation units displayed equipment around the parking lot.

“This facility is top notch and more importantly it gives us the ability to solve crime in real time,” said Major Paul Richard, law enforcement division commander. “It really makes us that much better because we are all able to interact with one another.”

When Richard joined the force 29 years ago, there were only 500 hundred members. Now the agency has about 1,000, he said.