City cops operating out of more than a dozen satellite offices will soon be able to work under the same roof.
After more than a year of looking for a new site for a consolidated operations centre, the Calgary Police Service yesterday raised its flag in front of its newest acquisition, a $125-million campus in northeast Calgary.
Police Chief Rick Hanson said with the purchase of the two buildings in the Westwinds Campus, Nortel’s former headquarters at 47 Street NE, many services currently dispersed across the city in 14 different facilities will now operate more efficiently and increase the level of service.
“Being able to pull everybody into one facility will improve communication and it’s going to make for a better delivery of policing services,” he said.
The cost for the facility was covered from a $106.5-million slice of the province’s Municipal Sustainability Initiative, as well as an additional $18.5 million from the city.
The price tag for a new facility in the downtown core was estimated at as much as $500 million.
Mayor Dave Bronconnier said the facility is a bargain for taxpayers and will allow police to better fight crime. “They have the ability to work much closer with their colleagues and save the taxpayers money,” he said.
The west building is slated to be completed in 2010 with room for 1,000 personnel while the east building will open in 2011.
