By Kathleen Hilliard

khillard@americanpress.com

Much like the rest of the city, the Lake Charles Police Department is adapting to a new working environment following the destruction left behind by Hurricanes Laura and Delta.

Capt. Kevin Kirkum said the department’s annex building on Enterprise Boulevard was one of many across the city that received immense damage from the storms. As the department awaits a decision on whether to rebuild or demolish what’s left, officers will soon be relying on temporary office buildings to serve as their new facility.

He said Pujo Street, between Enterprise Boulevard and Louisiana Avenue, remains closed to vehicle and pedestrian traffic while the temporary buildings are being installed.

“Right now, we’ve got officers in whatever space that they can be in the main police department,” Kirkum said. “Several of us are working out of the squad room, we have some people working in vacant offices. Everyone is doubled up and tripled up, so the first thing we’re going to have to do is to transfer all of the computer equipment that was not destroyed over to the building and make sure we get all of our computer drops in and electricity hooked up, and we’re going to have to find some desks and chairs to put in there, because the space is kind of empty.”

Kirkum said the department is waiting for the other half of one of the buildings to be delivered as well as sewer and electrical hookups to complete their new, temporary location.

“A lot of our files were destroyed, a lot of our equipment was destroyed but we’re dealing with home stuff and with dealing with work stuff — I think things are going pretty good,” he said. “It’s pretty different working on picnic tables than working in your own office, we don’t have interview room space so we have to get somebody out of the office if we have interviews to do. We have officers working out of their cars, but all in all, we haven’t lost anybody and everybody’s plugging along.”