‘Police station for the future’ opens
New division going to be very central, very soon, chief says
At the community opening of the southwest divisional police station, the bagpipes and speeches competed with the residential construction noise that surrounded the $34-million building on a sunny morning.
The sound of hammers and saws are symbolic of the need for a new station at 1341 Windermere Way as the city grows rapidly to the south, Police Chief Rod Knecht said.
“This is a police station for the future. ... although this may be a little on the fringe right now, with what’s happening in the broader community and the province, this is going to be a very central location in a short period of time.”
Knecht was joined Saturday by provincial and municipal politicians in welcoming about two dozen families to the event. The police station opened its doors for business at the beginning of June and will be the main building for the southwest district, which stretches from the North Saskatchewan River near Gateway Boulevard to the city’s southern limits and includes west Edmonton residents who live south of Whitemud Drive.
It took more than two years to complete the 72,000-squarefoot building, which Knecht touted as “state of the art.” The main lobby is bright, with large windows that allow summer sun to pour into the building.
It’s a far cry from the “barricaded” design of the old southwest divisional station in an industrial area at 51st Avenue and 97th Street, Knecht said.
The new station is big enough to hold about 200 officers and staff, has a special room for victims services, community meeting rooms, and technology to allow video bail hearings. Knecht said the design is meant to allow work that goes beyond “traditional” policing.
“This building welcomes the community. We look at prevention and intervention as opposed to enforcement — get there before the crime even occurs, get the community involved in helping us. We’re not just focused on traditional policing of let’s arrest someone or go write a ticket.”
The welcoming ceremony came about two weeks after three small community police stations in Beverly, Eastwood, and Fairview, another southwest neighbourhood, were shuttered. Police said they were the least busy of the city’s 14 stations.
Police in the southwest handle the same types of complaints seen across the city, Supt. Nigel Stevens of the southwest division said.
“When I look at things that really impact people the most in terms of criminal activity, it tends to be things like theft of motor vehicles, theft from motor vehicles, break and enters ... those are the things that tend to impact individuals.”
The police department hopes to build a new station in the northwest corner of the city, close to the remand centre, which opened earlier this year.