Advocate staff report

The Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office opened its new $6 million substation and 911 center in late September just north of Gonzales on Airline Highway, bringing a more centralized sheriff’s complex to the east side of the parish.

The 11,000-square-foot substation and the 6,000-square-foot 911 center was built to house patrol officers, a civil division and a business office where people can pay tickets or taxes. It also has a separate booking area for the processing of inmates before they’re transferred to the Ascension Parish Prison in Donaldsonville.

The new 911 center, connected to the substation by a covered walkway, accommodates 10 dispatcher consoles, an increase from the seven the center previously had, with space for up to 14 dispatchers in the future.

The 911 center previously operated in a space at the Sheriff’s Office headquarters in the parish courthouse annex in Gonzales that now will be used as backup during emergencies.

The center dispatches emergency calls parishwide, including the municipalities, handling 911 calls for law enforcement, fire departments and emergency medical services.

Also in September, the Hickley M. Waguespack Donaldsonville Substation and Community Park opened on Maginnis Street in Donaldsonville. The Sheriff’s Office has offices in the courthouse in Donaldsonville, as well as in Donaldsonville City Hall.

The Sheriff’s Office also has a small substation on Airline Highway in Prairieville.