Police proud of upgraded facility
Last week we hosted an open house to showcase the renovations and expansion to police headquarters. It was a unique opportunity for the public to see behind the scenes and one that isn’t likely to happen again anytime soon — unless of course we’re bringing you in in handcuffs!
I want to thank Cst. Shawn Davis, Cst. Kara Hagen, Cst. Niels Vroegindewey, Cst. Kim Pierzchala and Cst. Peter Wigand for touring about 500 people through the building as well as Cst. Steve Baker, Cst. Tyler Boras, Cst. Jason Roth and Cst. Les Vonkeman for manning the static displays.
In addition, thanks to Dave Mack for organizing everything in the building and Mike and Jennifer Harris for producing a video of our cell block that depicted how a prisoner is processed upon arrival at the station. On behalf of the Service, I also want to extend our thanks and appreciation to Heidi Davis who created a three-piece painting that members of the public signed and all our employees will sign before we hang it up.
The $28-million expansion and renovation of the police station began in 2014 and is almost complete — there’s just a few things left to be done. If you aren’t familiar with the project, we added a two-level parking structure and approximately 3,500 square metres which increased the total size of the building to 9,500 square metres.
In addition to the public tours we were also fortunate to host members of City Council and the Lethbridge Police Commission and our very first tour of the day was a large group of our retired veterans. In speaking to the vets, we determined that between them there was nearly 300 years of service in the room! In fact, the oldest vet — retired Insp. Glen Michelson, at 93 — was one of the pioneers of our Ident Unit.
It was a really great opportunity to show these gentlemen how far we’ve come in terms of the tools, equipment and technology that we now have and the progress that has been made in this profession, largely because of the contributions they made to pave the way.
Personally, I never tire of hearing stories from back in the day and there is usually always something that can be learned. Celebrating the history of the Service, especially the men and women who helped shape this organization and make it what it is, is something that is near and dear to us. Our retired personnel — sworn and civilians — will always have a place here and are welcome back anytime.