Virginia State Police building new Division Six headquarters in Salem

The Virginia State Police is planning to build new headquarters for its Division Six in Salem. Construction is expected to begin in 2020.

Fairfax-based Dewberry said it will provide architecture and engineering services for the building, which it estimates will encompass 30,000 square feet. The Division Six headquarters currently are situated at 3775 W. Main St. in Salem. The plan is for the new headquarters to be located on Route 419, off of Interstate 81.

“This division headquarters is now the oldest in the State of Virginia,” Sgt. Rick Garletts, public information officer for Virginia State Police's Division Six, wrote in an email. “They plan to demolish the building, due to materials that are hazardous to employees. They plan to leave the communications building in place. The building was completed in 2008, and houses our dispatch center, so the property will remain in use.”

Garletts says that, to his knowledge, the cost and allocation of funds for the project, has yet to be determined. 

“A new building will be a blessing, but we have to see if it actually happens,” he says. There was a plan for a new headquarters in the early 2000s, but the funding fell through. 

The new facility will provide space for the division’s 100 staff members, plus room for growth. It will include administrative, multipurpose, and vehicle storage buildings, and a communications tower. The space will house the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Bureau of Field Operations and support services.

Dewberry also provided designs for the recently completed VSP Driver Training Facility and VSP Shoot House, plus the currently under construction VSP Demolition Range.