POCATELLO — For the first time ever, the forensics, administrative, investigative and patrol divisions for District 5 of the Idaho State Police in Pocatello are now located in the same building.

Construction began on the $6 million, 23,000-square-foot District 5 headquarters building on South Fifth Avenue about a year ago. On Monday, a police tape ribbon-cutting ceremony followed by guided tours gave local residents a first-hand look at the new facility.

“There were some times where weeks passed before I visited with my detectives,” said Capt. Eric Dayley, who is also the district commander of the patrol and investigations units that were previously housed in different buildings. “To be able to share information and know what’s going on with their cases is just invaluable. This creates synergy in our officers and we definitely feel like one team now.”

The new facility is a much-anticipated upgrade from the previous situation that featured multiple operations in several facilities scattered throughout rented buildings in Pocatello. The new building allows for the streamlining of evidence analysis, communication and cooperation. And it is the first new ISP complex built in the state since a District 3 headquarters opened in Meridian in 2008.

In addition to several dozen citizens and law enforcement officials, state legislators Sen. Mark Nye, D-Pocatello; Rep. Dustin Manwaring, R-Pocatello; Rep. Elaine Smith, D-Pocatello; Rep. Randy Armstrong, R-Inkom; and Kelley Packer, R-McCammon; attended the ribbon-cutting.

The new District 5 headquarters houses one of three evidence laboratories in the state. In addition to drug chemistry and toxicology analysis, the Pocatello lab also calibrates all the blood-alcohol devices operated by law enforcement agencies in the southeast region of the state.

“About half to three-quarters of the toxicology analyses completed across the state take place at this facility,” said Matthew Gamette, the Idaho State Police director of Forensic Services. “About one-third of the state’s breath-alcohol instruments come here and about one-third of the drug chemistry analyses comes through this lab.”

Gamette said the new laboratory was designed with Lean Six Sigma principles in mind, which is a concept in business that focuses on improving performance or a process by lessening the number of steps involved.

“Once the evidence enters the vault, it goes straight to the analysts,” Gamette said. “And throughout the design of the building, the analysts’ work spaces are triangulated with anywhere they need to go. From their evidence to their instruments and workspaces, everything is positioned to minimize the number of steps.”

The new laboratory also features large windows to allow people to see the facility during guided tours without compromising themselves, the analysts or the evidence.

The addition of video testimony rooms provides evidence technicians with an in-house location to participate in court proceedings being done outside the region to limit the time that analysts are away from the lab.

It’s one of the most transparent laboratories in the country, according to Gamette. All of the cases and respective turnaround times are available on the Idaho State Police website. And though not required, the Pocatello lab is also in compliance with International Organization for Standardization accreditation standards.

“We are accredited by an organization called A2LA,” said Rachel Cutler, the Pocatello lab manager. “Our laboratory system has been accredited since 1987, and this is something that we go through at great expense to ensure that we maintain high quality.”

Though the new headquarters building houses about 45 employees, only three people have direct access to the laboratory evidence room. An advanced tracking system records exactly where each piece of evidence moves throughout the laboratory.

“We receive evidence from evidence technicians or officers and we also receive evidence from other agencies through the mail,” Cutler said. “It gets logged into our tracking system and each piece gets a barcode so that we can track it electronically as it moves through the lab. There is an evidence vault where the custodians place evidence that we get. And when the scientists are ready to check out cases, they come to the front and aren’t allowed to enter the vault.”

The new headquarters also includes a weight and training room, several conference and interrogation rooms, an exterior garage and storage room.

Each portion of the facility is secured with keycard scanning devices and a state-of-the-art video monitoring service that allows administrative personnel to communicate with troopers entering and leaving various parts of the facility with live video feeds.

Dayley said that prior to moving into this building, there were detectives and troopers that had never met face-to-face.

So the new building not only makes the jobs of state police officials easier, it also makes the citizens of the region safer, according to Col. Ked Wills.

“What a good day it is for ISP and a good day for Idaho,” Wills said about the new facility. “What we do as a law enforcement agency, and specifically, what the people are doing in this building day in and day out, is life-saving and life-changing work. This is why we exist, to change and save lives so that one more person doesn’t have to go through the horrible fate of being a victim of a terrible crime.”

Wills continued, “Today, we are thankful for those who are here that see that and are able to help us as we realize these goals.”