Shreveport mayor announces possible locations for police department relocation

SHREVEPORT, La. (KSLA) – Five locations in Shreveport have been identified as possible sites for the upcoming relocation of Shreveport Police Department employees.

The mayor says the following three locations have been identified as candidates for relocation of Patrol Division personnel:

• 3313 N Market St., former medical office owned by Willis-Knighton
• 9194 Mansfield Rd., former CVS Pharmacy at the intersection of the Bert Kouns Industrial Loop
• 6514 W Canal Blvd., one of the buildings at the vacant Sunset Acres Elementary School

The mayor’s office says half of the patrol division will be moved to CVS, while a quarter will be moved to each of the other two locations.

The recommended location for the investigative division’s relocation is part of a building at 2301 Kings Hwy. on Mansfield Road, owned by the Biomedical Research Foundation. It is recommended that the support and administration departments be relocated to part of an office complex at 1120 S Pointe Pkwy.

“Our staff has personally toured more than a dozen potential sites throughout the city and identified locations where we can relocate SPD employees with minimal remodeling,” said Mayor Tom Arceneaux. “This allows us to begin the relocation process quickly, which in turn means our police employees have better jobs more quickly.”

The city government has begun negotiating leases with the locations listed above. The rental agreements for patrol locations have a term of approximately 12 to 15 months. This is because patrol personnel will be able to move to permanent locations once the three substations are constructed. The rental agreements for the other locations have a term of around three years, as these employees need a place to work until the new headquarters can be built. This building is currently in the design process, with construction scheduled to begin in the second half of 2025. The new headquarters is not expected to be completed until sometime in 2028.

The mayor says the timeline for moving each department will depend on how quickly leases can be negotiated, how much interior planning is needed and how quickly phone/internet capabilities can be installed. He says Patrol and Investigations will likely be the first to move, hopefully before the end of the year.

It is not known how much this will all cost, says the mayor. However, a large portion of the cost will be offset by the elimination of maintenance and operating costs at the current headquarters on Texas Avenue.

Meanwhile, the mayor and city council appear to be at odds over the location of one of the new substations.

Because of these concerns raised by some City Council members, the bidding process for the new N Market substation has been suspended. It is unclear when it will continue.

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