A vital community service has moved back into its newly rebuilt premises, this one is a State Government agency in the form of Richmond Police District and the team are just as excited as every other business or organisation this year.

Superintendent Scott Tanner told the Lismore App the completed move was about 3:30 on Thursday afternoon, so the community can now visit Zadoc Street once again.

(Superintendent Scott Tanner in the newly rebuilt first floor of the Lismore Police Station)

"It was a really, really great day," Mr Tanner said, "You know, I sort of reflect back at the last time I walked out of the station, it was on the early hours of the 28th of February. Our normal business continuity plan was the floodwaters come in, surround the police station, never been in the police station before. We're out of the CBD for about 16-18 hours and then we come back."

"So, I remember talking to the guys at the time when we left and said, guys, do you want to take all the stuff, all the equipment and the boss said no we'll be right, we'll be back in less than a day. And here we are nearly 10 months later and we can finally come back in so a bit of a surreal moment."

Estimates of the damage bill is in excess of $10 million, that is to the facility and all the equipment which is substantial given the water got to about waist deep on the first floor.

"Obviously that pales in comparison to other people that have lost their businesses and their homes," Supt Tanner explained, "But we're thankful that we've been able to get back on our feet in what has been, some may say, a protracted timeframe, which it has been but we're talking about a once in a lifetime event, probably once in many lifetimes event."

"All of our electrical equipment and our data equipment (servers) was stored down the bottom, so they all became impacted. All of our electrical systems are down the bottom and then you take into consideration that the bottom floor might have 60 computers. We lost a lot of personal equipment, the forensic services, some of their equipment is worth upwards of a million dollars so it doesn't take long to rack up. Then the second and third floors were really heavily impacted by mould, so we had to get rid of the majority of our furniture."

There was also a little bit of a hard luck story with the moving back in because the police had to move all of their own equipment due to some "challenges".

"We have a 300-kilo gun safe and the question asked is "how many police does it take to move it?" And I can answer that definitively, we can say nine. I am really proud of everyone. From day one of the floods, they haven't lost their bundle, they've been so resilient."

"The first two weeks we spent working in the basement of the bowling club at Lismore Heights, which we were very lucky for them to put us up. And then, obviously, the university have been outstanding. We've been working up there for nine months now. We felt like part of the family up there and, you know, they've been a real leader in the community, the uni, because they have not only taken on police and other emergency services, they've taken a lot of schools and businesses. So, hats off to them. But as I said, No Place Like Home."

In terms of all the police personnel, is everyone back?

"All of what we call our district police, are here, so we have, obviously, our management team, we have our general duties, detectives, proactive crime team, crime prevention unit, so, everyone basically under my control are here. And then traffic and highway patrol, prosecutors and our forensic evidence team are still working off-site. We hope to have everyone back on site by mid-next year, which will be really good."

The reason for that is the building is not completely finished being rebuilt.

"Half of the bottom floor is still a construction zone, or a reconstruction zone, and then the old police station at the back of the current police station where our forensics reside, they're still going through the demolition phase. Because it's an old heritage building, there's a lot of stuff that has to go around that. There's a lot of lead time for their specialized equipment to come in from overseas and some of that stuff can take up to 12 months to source. So hence that's why they're working off-site."

A lot of businesses have built back better, in terms of flood preparedness for the next event. What has the RPD done?

"We have basically come back in as we were but certainly on the scope of works is looking at how we can flood proof, if that's a word we can use in Lismore, but certainly be more resistant around that. That looks at bringing our servers up to a higher height, some suggestion has been making our back gates as a floodgate, for instance, to offer better protection. But there's a lot of discussions around that and we'll see where it takes us."

"We wanted to get back into the CBD, back into the heart of the place and rebuild with the town. That's the key. I think as a government organization, we have to be seen to be taking a strong lead in coming back better and supporting people."

With many businesses closing down for Christmas and New Year, some taking a break for the first time at this time of year because of the events on February 28, police cannot do the same.

"No, certainly not, we're a 24/7 organization. My police will be working Christmas Day and New Year's Day, we'll have extra resources on those peak periods of time. Back to business as normal, whatever normal is any more."