Q & A with Joe Latta
Reinforcing Dry Wall
From The Evidence Log Magazine
Q: Hello, We are currently looking into moving all of our evidence into a new facility, however it will be shared with another tenant as well as with other departments of the city. We are debating on how to reinforce the walls since we only have sheetrock in there now. Any suggestions that are not to spendy? Thanks for any assistance you can give us.
-Evidence and Records Manager Shannon Armstrong, Beaverton, OR Police Department
A: Shannon, There is a drywall product with a mesh inside that could be added as another layer. Another option is 3/4" or 1" plywood secured with screws to the existing walls on your side. Another consideration is to make sure that access cannot be made via suspended ceilings and a crawlspace in adjacent rooms that wouldn't even require breaking through the walls.
Regardless of what you do, make sure that you have an alarm system with a motion sensor that would detect any entry through the walls. Some are even sensitive enough to pick up attempts to break through the wall before entry is actually made. Having an alarm system with only door and window sensors would not be sufficient.
-Joe Jatta, CPES