The groundbreaking ceremony for the 28,000-square-foot facility will take place at 10 a.m. on the west side of the university near the corner of Prairie Street and Darby Avenue.

"This is a tremendous facility that will allow us the ability to improve the service to our community, be more efficient in our business practices and provide our staff with space that they can be proud to work in," said CSUN Police Chief Anne Glavin.

Immediately following the ceremony, Glavin will host an exhibit and demonstration of the university police department's special equipment, including the Emergency Operations Center mobile command trailer and the K-9 unit.

The universitys Public Safety offices are currently located on the first floor of Building 14 of the University Park Apartments, on the north side of the campus off Zelzah Avenue, where they moved following the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Glavin noted that the existing facility is too small to properly accommodate the department's needs.

She said the new two-story, stand-alone facility will be more centrally located on the campus and "for the first time, we will have a public safety facility that provides our staff with the appropriate amount of space to conduct professional police, support and parking and transportation services."

The first floor of the new facility will house a reception area, patrol operations, parking and transportation and Livescan services, a unit that provides electronic fingerprinting services which is open to the public, providing easy access for customers and visitors. Administrative offices and other areas of the department will be located on the second floor.