News : Local Girl Scout troops among first to tour new LEC

Libby Timmerman listens as Sheriff Forsyth explains how elevated tables allow dispatchers to stand.

Troops 6652 and 6299 pose for a photo after touring the new Law Enforcement Center.

Girls Scout Troop 6081 visited the LEC Tuesday evening.

Girl Scouts check out one of the prison cell areas during their LEC tour.

In the booking area, Girl Scouts watch another member of their troop via camera.

Sheriff Forsyth discusses the geothermal heating and cooling system.

Girl Scouts look around the officers' squad room.

Alesha Brunssen and Olivia Erhardt sit in one of the cells during the Girl Scouts LEC tour.

Many Girl Scouts posed for photos in the new jail cells.

The Scouts received a special badge commemorating their visit to the LEC.

It had been a long day for the working moms who are also parents, volunteers and leaders of the local Girl Scout Troops. So after coming home from their jobs, getting the kids home from school and making supper, the mothers took their children to tour the new Law Enforcement Center.

Standing in the cell block area, one of the mothers listened as Sheriff Randy Forsyth explained that in prison, the inmates are locked in a room, alone with only a telephone and television and some books, if they want to read.

Listening to this description, one tired mom asked, "What do I have to do to spend a week here?"

The others laughed, more out of agreement than anything else, and the tour went on.

Three troops of Girls Scouts, 6081, 6652 and 6299, spent about an hour touring the new building. Forsyth showed them the administrative area of the new building, where he and his officers will have office space and conduct their investigations. He showed them the kitchen and the room where all of the geothermal heating and cooling system panels are located.

But the girls were clearly most interested in the last part of the tour: the jail area. Forsyth told the girls (and their parents) how the new jail will function. He explained how the jailers will be able to use the computers in the control room to monitor the inmates, and open or lock doors. He showed them the booking area and let them explore the cells.

Many other tours will follow in the next few days as Forsyth and the staff of the Benton County Sheriff's Office begins moving back into the building almost three years after the flood forced them out of the old one.

The visitors will learn about the 98 surveillance cameras that cover virtually every area inside and around the new building. They may hear about the $10,000 storm doors that protect the building's sensitive equipment from tornado-force winds. They may try to count the electrical outlets in the Emergency Management Agency Emergency Operations Center -- 104 on the walls and two more in the ceiling.

They will also learn now the new building has some of the latest technologies to make working conditions for the staff there. In the 911 dispatchers' area the tables may be raised to several different heights. Some dispatchers, said Forsyth, prefer to work all day while standing up. With the new equipment in the 911 room, they can. For those who prefer to sit, the tables can be lowered.

Forsyth told the Girl Scouts that the building cost just under $7 million to build.