In order to accurately describe the building and the floors of the fictional Cedar County Sheriff's Office of my novels' protagonist, Sheriff Jim Buchanan, I constructed a diagram of the individual office space. Much research went into this rendering. I completed online research into various police stations and sheriff's offices to arrive at a good representation for a sheriff's office and its critical components in a county with a population of at least 24,000 people.
Some could say this was an unnecessary use of time, however I find it invaluable when writing my novels. I can visualize on my diagrams where my characters are in relation to what they may view outside their windows, how they move about inside the building, how they interact with other employees and the public all the while without concern of making logistical errors in writing multiple novels.
There are four floors (note the secure passage desks meant to keep inmates and suspects segregated from the sheriff's office employees and the general public):
The lower basement houses a gymnasium.
The upper basement includes a running track above the gymnasium, men's and women's lockers and showers, a Nautilus weight room, weapons armory, handgun firing range, and an evidence locker.
The first floor includes a lobby, dispatch center, Sheriff Buchanan's office, a staff cafeteria, conference rooms, a low-risk inmate cafeteria/library, a low-risk inmate rec facility, holding cell, booking facility, sally port, kennel, and garage.
The second floor encompasses a lunch room, bailbondsman's/chaplin's office, detectives' office, conference rooms, training facility, common area for deputies/staff desks, inmate legal rep rooms, two interview (interrogation) rooms, an observation room with on-way glass, youth officer's office, Sergeant Bonnie MacAskill's Office, and Undersheriff Rocco Salentino's Office.
The third floor is dedicated to the county jail with 20 individual jailcells and a central observation station.
