Ribbon cutting for new D’Iberville Police Station

D’Iberville, county, and state leaders officially cut the ribbon on the city’s new police department headquarters.

D’Iberville Police Chief Wayne Payne said, “To take something from the ground and build it up, well it’s just an awesome feeling. Just an awesome feeling.”

Friday’s ribbon cutting ceremony marked a 13-year journey for the D’Iberville Police Department. From a double-wide trailer to a brand new, custom 14,000 square foot building, Chief Payne has been with the department since the beginning. “It’s really not about me, it’s about these officers that pin that badge on every day and go out and protect our citizens. And this is something they can be proud of, something our citizens can be proud of. It’s just a great day.”

The new facility gives police more room to house staff and equipment and includes multiple conference rooms to offer more chances to connect with the community for training. D’Iberville City Manager Clay Jones said, “These officers have been without for so long and now they get a beautiful new state of the art facility. We’re just happy for them.”

This ceremony comes at the end of a week where law enforcement across the country were making national headlines including a verdict in the case concerning Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin and the death of George Floyd as well as two other police involved shootings.

While these events have many calling to defund the police, city, county, and state officials spoke out against that proposal. “If you want better police officers, you’ve got to train them. And you’ve got to provide them with quality gear. And you’ve got to provide them with a healthy place to work, and a gym, and those types of atmospheres. You can’t ask an officer to be a good officer and not give them the tools.”

Governor Tate Reeves said, “In other parts of the country, they want to talk about de-funding our police. And what we’re showing here today is this is an illustration that we’re not going to– not only are we not going to de-fund our police, we’re actually going to invest more in our police officers across the Mississippi Coast and across the great state of Mississippi because we understand the role that they play. We understand what they do to keep our community safe.”

Chief Payne credits the department’s partnerships with local schools, businesses, and churches with the reason the community supports his officers. “Our guys get out of the cars. They walk into the businesses. They walk into the churches. They know everybody. And we know them. They know us.”