BEND, OR -- Deschutes County’s Community Justice Parole and Probation division is halfway through a $6.5 million building renovation and expansion.

Department director Deevy Holcomb is looking forward to having the department in one place after years of separate locations on the public safety campus at the city's north end, “All staff assigned to Bend will report to and work out of one building. And that building will have offices for everybody. There is going to be some shelled out space that doesn’t have any offices yet but will be ready in 5, 10 years when we need it.”

“We will have a large conference room that will be sufficient for training. So, our parole and probation officers have kind of a similar level of law enforcement training you might imagine. Lots of physical activity and training that needs to happen to make sure folks remain safe. So that can all happen on site,” said Holcomb of the 8,400 square-foot addition.

Construction began last spring and is expected to be completed in late spring or early summer next year.

“I think it’s going to be really good for cohesion and it’s just a nicer space. It’s a little bit bigger; we do lots of physical activity. We need to have room that’s sufficient for safety; for working with clients, sometimes we’re conducting arrests or searches. That kind of thing. We need wide hallways, lots of sufficient light to keep things safe. We’re just really excited,” said Holcomb.