"New Police Station on Reserve Opened"

OHSWEKEN - The new police station on the Six Nations Indian Reserve opened on Friday.

The 4,100-square-foot $360,000 building behind the band office was designed by band member Mike Hill, an architect in Hamilton, and built by the band's public works department.

"What you see here is a product of Six Nations, which I am very proud of," Chief Coun. William Montour told about 75 people at the ceremony.

The site, near the subdivision and the park, was chosen so the station would be "effective but out of sight," Chief Coun. Montour said. "There will always be someone watching over."

The band's police force started with two officers in 1985. Two more were hired this year. They work with the Ontario Provincial Police in Brantford under a special program by the federal and provincial governments.

Officers had been working in a small, cramped office in the basement of White Pines Business Complex. The OPP will also work out of the new station.

The band will ask for four more officers this summer. It wants a total of 18 on patrol and three in the office. It also hopes the force will become independent.

"We had a vision of our own station and our own force. We thought it was just a dream," said Const. Glenn Lickers, one of the first two officers. "We felt we could help the people on this reserve."

Ontario treasurer and Brant-Haldimand MPP Robert Nixon also attended the opening ceremony.