Police board supports investigative building

Hamilton police services building determined to have space deficiency

The police services board has sent the decision to finance $14 million of a $24-million investigative services building to council, following a unanimous vote of approval.

The item will go to city council’s General Issue Committee Sept 21.

“This is a need that has been demonstrated for a long, long time — since 1995,” said Mayor Fred Eisenberger.

Deputy Chief Ken Weatherill highlighted the history of their space deficit and their cost analysis before the police services board Friday.

In 1995, Carruthers Shaw Architects determined Hamilton police had a space deficit of 25,000 square feet, said Weatherill. By 2016, that had grown to an estimated 61,000 square feet.

Hamilton police services are “busting at the seams” and lagging behind the rest of the province at 205 square foot per person. Guidelines call for at least 240 square feet per person. With the construction of the 62,000-square-foot forensics building, the service would jump into an acceptable range at 279 square feet per person, said Weatherill.

“We need that space, every unit within our service needs that space,” said Weatherill.

At present, Hamilton police only have one examination room (or labs), while guidelines call for three separate rooms — one for evidence for the victim, one for the suspect and one for the scene — in order to avoid cross-contamination.

“We are putting, moving forward as of today, every investigation at risk with the processing of our evidence,” said Weatherill.

The cost of the two-storey building is estimated at $24.3 million, but police only asked for approval to borrow $14.2 million. The rest will come from earmarked reserves ($6.5 million), a development reserve ($3 million), and the sale of the Upper Wellington Station ($600,000).

Police also pitched a “zero impact” on the operating budget, by rolling over the $716,000 mortgage payment from the Mountain Station — expected to be paid off in 2019 — and reallocating $429,000 annually in the budget.

Some of those savings might be made available through the Niagara Police Services Board, whose board chair, Bob Gale, submitted a request to the Hamilton board to explore “shared service opportunities.”

Gale says he is not sure where they would collaborate, but it could include the use of Niagara’s forensics facility and marine fleet, and Hamilton’s mounted unit and armoured vehicle.

Ferguson says it’s unlikely that Hamilton would feasibly be able to share Niagara’s forensics facility, because of the distance. He did agree that there would be ways to increase efficiency with the potential use of Niagara’s wire tapping capabilities, and offering up the mounted unit and armoured truck.