The LaSalle Parish Sheriff’s Office (LPSO) held official ribbon cutting ceremonies and a grand opening event at the new LPSO Olla Office Wednesday, July 5.

Olla Mayor Rhonda Elliott had the honor of cutting the ribbon as Sheriff Scott Franklin stood beside her, along with many other department members and elected officials.

“We are very proud of this new facility and it will help the Sheriff’s Office to better serve the citizens of northwest LaSalle and those traveling through our parish on US 165,” Sheriff Franklin said. “Between Monroe and Alexandria, this is now the only sheriff’s office or police station located directly beside the major highway.”

The new facility is located at 3719 Main Street (U.S. 165) just over a quarter-mile north of the LA 127/U.S. 165 intersection.

The former LPSO Sub-Station had been housed inside the facilities of the former Olla Town Hall/Olla Police Department for many years through an intergovernmental agreement between the Town of Olla and the Sheriff’s Office but additional space and other factors warranted the new facility.

“This new facility gives us much more room for work, including investigations, paper work, etc. and it’s a safe environment for those needed law enforcement assistance to come,” the sheriff said. “This has been in the plans for a long time and it’s great to finally see it become a reality.”

Sheriff Franklin said the move was actually planned many years ago after seeing the need to have a more spacious facility to aid the residents of that area.

“We had begun putting aside money to relocate the facility several years ago and back in 2019 we bought the building and property located at the current location,” he said. “The original building had been renovated with one side housing the sub-station and the rest of the building was going to be used for training purposes.”

But an unusual snow storm in February 2020 stopped the opening of that facility.

“We had the sheriff’s office part completed and was set to move in within two weeks when the snow storm hit,” the Sheriff continued. “The snow on the roof caused it to cave in which ruined the renovated facility.”

When clean up began shortly thereafter, it was discovered that the original roof installation was faulty and the building was deemed a total loss by the insurance agency.

“While we did have insurance on that building, it put us back to square one in regards to a new Olla office,” he said. “Of course, by this time, we were right in the middle of the Covid pandemic and as everyone knows, building materials skyrocketed following the shutdowns.”

The result of the higher prices was that there wasn’t enough money to rebuild the facility back to its original large size with the training area, so the Sheriff decided to use the money to simply build the Olla office.

The new facility is much larger than the space afforded to them at their former location in the Town of Olla building. Along with easy public access, there is also a lobby and dispatching area, a detective’s room that will be used for taking statements and other investigatory work, storage rooms, restrooms, and a small kitchen area.

Franklin said the Olla office will be open 24-hours a day, seven days a week for the convenience of all citizens.

“We are thankful for the Town of Olla and the years that we worked together while housing our sub-station there and this move does not change any of that,” the Sheriff said. “But the time had come for us to expand to better serve our citizens and I’m grateful for the smart financial management of our Chief Civil Deputy Sherry Hudnall for allowing the project to be completed.”