Killeen approves nearly $4.5 million police evidence facility upgrade

Killeen City Council approved nearly $4.5 million on July 7, 2026, for a construction contract involving a new Killeen Police Department evidence storage facility.

The project is intended to expand the department’s storage and evidence-processing capacity. Police officials cited long-standing limits at the existing facility and a growing number of evidence files that must be kept permanently.

For the city, the approval commits substantial public funds to a specialized public-safety facility. The project concerns evidence storage and processing—not a new police headquarters.

Why Killeen is expanding the facility

The existing storage building has been used since 2009. As evidence files accumulate, the department faces an ongoing need for room to store items associated with police investigations, including evidence that cannot be discarded because it must be retained permanently.

The facility also supports the handling and documentation of evidence as it moves through police operations. The project’s local significance is therefore tied not only to available square footage, but also to the department’s ability to manage evidence storage, processing and chain-of-custody operations.

Commander Antonia McDaniel was identified as a local source in reporting about the project. The explanation from police officials focused on the current building’s capacity constraints and the continuing growth of permanent evidence files.

Project cost is approximate

The approved project was described as costing nearly $4.5 million. The available reporting does not provide the exact executed contract amount, so the figure should be treated as an approximate project value rather than a confirmed final contract total.

The approved materials also do not identify the facility’s final square footage or the contractor. Those details could help residents assess the size and scope of the city’s investment, but they were not included in the source packet.

Schedule was conditional

City project agenda materials listed an estimated start date of July 20, 2026, if the required approval and purchase-order conditions were met. The same schedule materials said the purchase order needed to be issued by June 26 for that estimated start.

The city materials projected completion during the last week of August 2026. Those milestones were estimates in a project schedule, not confirmation that construction had started or that the facility was complete.

The approved reporting and city materials do not provide a final construction-status update. As a result, the next practical question for Killeen is whether the project reached the estimated construction milestones and, if not, whether the city has issued a revised schedule.

What the project means for residents

The facility is intended to give the Killeen Police Department more capacity for evidence storage and processing as permanent files continue to grow. That could affect the department’s long-term ability to organize and maintain evidence, but the packet does not provide a projected capacity increase or a completed-work assessment.

For now, the confirmed development is the council’s July 7 approval of the nearly $4.5 million construction contract. The project schedule, exact contract amount, contractor, final facility size and construction status remain important details that are not established by the approved materials.