SIDNEY -- The normal focus of maintaining order and keeping the peace of Sidney was relaxed as the doors to the Sidney Police Department were opened to the public.

The Sidney Police Department moved from Illinois Street to 1200 Pole Creek Crossing. On March 21, the move and retrofit to a modern-day police department was celebrated. Police Chief Sam Lovato noted the City of Sidney has owned the complex for about a year. That year was spent preparing the building to be a full-service police department.

"We've actually had possession of this building since about March last year, but a lot goes into getting a police department up and running. We have to make sure we meet all the requirements needed for evidence, the security measures, getting cameras outfitted, developing new policies and procedures on how to handle that evidence, and basically just trying to make sure everything was up and running 100% before we unveil it to the rest of the community," Lovato said.

The new location offers opportunities not available at the previous location.

"Some of the assets we get with the new building is going to be, A the location. We have about an acre here. We do have open land that allows us to start building our own training props, kind of our own training center that will hopefully be utilized by us and surrounding departments," Lovato said.

Officers spent the afternoon conducting tours of the facility, explaining the layout of the offices, how some of the procedures work and why.