BEAUMONT, Texas — Beaumont Police Chief Tim Oknashek is advocating for a bond proposal to build a new centralized police headquarters, citing severe limitations in the department's current 51-year-old facility that he says has far exceeded its expected lifespan and now houses twice the number of employees it was designed for.

The existing headquarters, built during the Cold War era, suffers from multiple structural and operational problems. The building features no windows, contains a basement that frequently floods and includes a four-level design with only one elevator that serves just three floors.

"It was built in a different time. We had a jail, so a good portion of the first of the basement is unusable for a lot of different reasons, but it's cost prohibited to fix," Oknashek sai

See Full Page