Civilians on new police building committee raise concerns
By Steph Crosier
Courtesy of Code 11: On the Scene
BELLEVILLE (17/01/2013) Belleville Police Chief expressed some concern to civilian citizens voting on important decisions in the construction of the new police building. Photo by Steph Crosier
Concerns over civilian members on the new Belleville Police station’s steering committee led to a heated discussion at the January police services board meeting.
The exchange started when board member Chris Lesage was worried about having inexperienced civilian members on the committee making important decisions.
“It’s just that it seems rather ridiculous to establish a committee to do something this important, without having that one representative at the meeting at all time to provide that input,” said Lesage during the meeting.
The new committee, aimed at steering the construction of the new station will be made up of two civilian members, three councilors, the city’s chief administration officer, and the chief of police, Cory McMullan.
Mayor Neil Ellis assured Lesage, and the rest of the board, that McMullan would be part of the committee to provide her expertise. Still, McMullan was anxious as Neil compared building the new station, to when the city built the new library in 2006.
“I don’t have concerns with having civilians on there. My concern is that a police station is not like building a home,” said McMullan. “It’s that the requirements and the needs of the police service with the police expertise that that is how the police station is designed moving forward.”
Neil acknowledged McMullan and Lesage’s concern at the meeting and said committee members might be able to make decisions such as colours and tiles. But McMullan was still not satisfied in a post-meeting interview.
“Colours in a police station are extremely important, and there have been studies done where the colours in a cell area, for instance, can cause a lot of grief,” said McMullan. “(The building is) going to last for 30-40 years. We don’t want to have regrets after it’s built.”
Though McMullan is uneasy she said she understands the importance of having the civilian members on the committee.
“I’m not disputing that it’s a significant cost to the community, but having an input on the design of the police facility, I have a little concern,” said McMullan. “If we’re going to do some extras that’s specifically community oriented within the police station I understand that, but having its still have to have the expertise in policing.”
Lesage echoed McMullan during the meeting when she said those making the tough decisions concerning the new station should have experience in policing.
“My concern is that building a police station is much different than building a library,” said Lesage. “So there was a lot of specifics about a police station that I would think are particular.”
During the meeting, Ellis said it would be easier for the police to make all the decisions, but that isn’t going to happen.
“It would be nice… to do everything yourself, and just argue with yourself,” said Ellis. “But of course that’s not the world we live in.”
In a post-meeting interview, Ellis said that so far the station is on schedule to be completed in 2014, and is on its budget of $21 million.
“I believe that we have to look at that figure, and that’s a plus or minus figure, its not done, but most estimates by our staff have been pretty good,” said Ellis. “They estimate higher and hopefully deliver lower.”
McMullan said there are three locations they were looking at for the new station but she has already put forward a favourite.
“Sidney and Bridge Street,” said McMullan. “The city owns that property so we wouldn’t have to spend any extra money… (Spending extra money) could take away resources for the actual structure, and I want to make sure the structure is what we need.”
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