Police chiefs have defended a new investigations hub against claims it could "rip the heart out of" police stations.
Detectives and CSI will move to the new hub, which is being built at DurhamGate near Spennymoor and will contain 140 desks for officers, councillors were told.
The facility will include 48 cells, interview rooms, crime scene investigation, forensic examination rooms, virtual courts, evidence stores, office space, a medical centre and CCTV.
Councillor Brian Jones, chairing Durham County Council's police and crime panel, said: "I find it mildly amusing that we've moved from 'cell block' to 'custody suite' and now morphed into 'investigative hub'."
Durham Police assistant chief officer Gary Ridley told the panel: "It's more than just 48 cells. It houses enough desks for 140 detectives and officers.
"It will also include a centralised property function. We are also centralising our crime scene investigation teams. We've currently got four different locations for our CSI. That's all going to be now in one place.
"So that's why I've called it a hub."
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He said it would be too expensive to "retrofit" existing sites and there would be space limitations.
He said there had been more than 50 public consultation events speaking to members of the public, MPs, officers, council leaders, the NHS, a circuit judge and the North-East Chamber of Commerce.
He added: "I think there'll always be people who will never really be accepting of what we're doing."
Panel member and former detective Robbie Rodiss expressed concerns about the new hub.
He said: "On the face of it, it all seems very good.
"Originally it was rolled out as a centralised custody suite. Now it's changed into a centralised investigations unit.
"My argument is the public are not aware that it's more than a custody suite. It's much larger than that.
"Who else will be put into that building from around the county?"
Mr Ridley answered: "Detectives."
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Mr Rodiss asked about four main police stations which he said would be "emptied out".
Mr Ridley replied it freed up space to give people a better working environment while spreading out officers to every station.
He said: "The police stations we've got are busting at the seams because we've got an extra 226 officers coming in and we've got an extra 150 police staff recruited over the last two years. We've grown the total workforce from about 2,100 to 2,500.
"You've still got the response teams, the neighbourhood officers, all the PCSOs, we've also got a number of smaller teams. There's still quite a few people within these stations.
"We've got 140 desks. That is a relatively small proportion of the total.
"We've got 400 police officers within our response teams, divided by five hubs. On average we've got 80 police officers in every station across a five-shift pattern.
"I would disagree to say that we're ripping the heart out of every police station. There is still a lot of officers and staff located in every place."
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Police and crime commissioner Joy Allen said: "It's no longer just police officers. Hopefully you want all those agencies to do problem-solving, to be together.
"I went to Bishop Auckland recently and the CID said 'we can't wait for this', to have the opportunity to be in one place.
"I think it's a good way for us to modernise."
Mr Rodiss said: "I would argue you're being very naive.
"By effectively scooping up all your detectives and putting them in one police station... you're taking away the ownership from areas and you're putting it into one main police station which will have responsibility for the whole county, and there will be a problem.
"There'll be a high turnover of police officers who will have no knowledge of who they're dealing with.
"They will not have a local understanding of the problems in that area. There won't be a continuity with the public.
"It's going to cause huge issues as regards how you deal with crime."
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Mr Ridley responded: "I disagree with the view that we don't know who we're dealing with. We expect our PSCOs, our neighbourhood cops and our response officers to know who the targets are and where the hotspots are, and these get discussed at every shift briefing.
"Detectives deal with individuals from all over the force area. That is the nature of crime."
Cllr Lucy Hovvels said: "I'm glad we've done what we've done because I think it is the way forward.
"Going out talking to some of the staff in some of the force stations, it's always been positive from them. They welcomed it. It's better working conditions, there's lots of benefits."
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