COEUR d'ALENE - Out of the basement, and into the justice facility.

It's a detective's dream come true.

The Kootenai County commissioners approved an improvement project this week for the county Criminal Justice Facility that would create a new space to house all the county detectives.

It's desperately needed, said Maj. Ben Wolfinger, as the detectives are currently working out of several different locations, including the justice facility, the basement of the extension office across the street, and the basement of a Hayden building owned by the city.

"It makes it harder to manage when people are spread out at two or three different locations," Wolfinger said. "This will make management all that much easier, as well as the detectives' ability to share information, which is critical in developing leads in cases. It's a well known fact that one crook does more than one crime."

A new room to house about 10 detectives will be constructed in a section of the justice facility. Nothing occupies the space now, as the section was shelled in during an expansion in 2000.

Engineering and architecture costs are estimated at $33,500, which would be covered by county funds.

Commissioner Rick Currie said he expects construction to start in late August.

"The space is definitely needed," Currie said.

But the step is only temporary, Wolfinger said.

The room's final destiny is to be transformed into a new courtroom when demand requires it, he said.

The construction for the detectives' space, which includes plumbing and flooring, will make the transition into a courtroom easier, he added.

"If it ever needs to be moved into court use, the major improvements would already be in place," he said.

When that times comes, Wolfinger admitted, it's unsure where the detectives will move to, which he pointed to as further evidence of the need for a whole new building.

"This is a Band-Aid approach," he said. "This building was built in the mid '80s, and to house a department that only had 140 total employees. Now we have nearly 300 and they're really crammed into the same space."

Currie said the commissioners wish they could do more.

"It (the improvement project) doesn't answer all of our questions, but it is a step in the right direction," he said.