FERRIDAY — Inside the Ferriday Police Department, there is a fine layer of dust over just about everything. It’s not because of neglect, however, but rather because of a revamping of the station.

Along with the construction of an office in the station’s waiting and break room, the station is being primed for painting.

The office will be an expansion of an already existing office, Police Chief Kenneth Hedrick said, and the painting was being done because it was long overdue.

“There were holes in the wall and the paint was peeling,” Hedrick said. “It just looked terrible, and hardly any of the lights worked.”

The station was at one time the office of the Concordia Electric Company, and in one of the bathrooms, hanging above the mirror is a sign that still reads, “This person works for Concordia Electric.”

The plumping in that bathroom had to be replaced, too.

“When I got here, none of the sinks worked,” Hedrick worked. “We also had to deal with a whole wall that was filled with honeybees. We had to get rid of that for safety reasons.”

While the physical changes at the department are more obvious, there have been a number of personnel changes as well.

Three patrol officers from the previous administration were retained, as well as former police Margaret Lawrence and investigator Johnny Evans.

Three other officers have been hired for full-time work as well as two part-time patrolmen.

Hedrick said he hopes to eventually have 10 full-time patrol officers in the department.

Right now, Hedrick hasn’t assigned rank to the officers, but some promotions may be in line soon, he said.

“I’ve hit the ground running,” Hedrick said. “I’ve been working 10-12 hours every day.”

Hedrick began as chief of police July 1.