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w w w .in sid e h alto n .co m | O A K V IL L E B E A V E R | Friday, July 2 8 , 2 0 1 7 | 2 New $65M police headquarters nearly ready for action by David Lea O akville Beaver S ta ff alton Police Chief Stephen Tanner says the construction of a new state-of-theart police headquarters continues to progress on budget and more or less on time. Halton Region council voted to approve the construction of the $65 million facility in January 2015. The new structure, located on the same regional property at 1151 Bronte Rd., broke ground in October of that year. Tanner said the new facility is expected to reach substantial completion in late August or early September of this year. "Construction has been progressing really well over the last 21 months or so. We expect that we will be totally moved in before the end of this year," said Tanner. "There is maybe a four-to-six week delay in our move-in date, but that revolves more around the technological infrastructure we need to have in the building to get the computers running and so the dispatch centre is running the day we move in." When completed, the four-storey structure will be 235,000 square feet, which is considerably larger than the existing 86,000-sq.ft. headquarters facility Tanner has previously stated the Halton Regional Police Service has outgrown its existing headquarters, which was built in 1991. "There will be a much larger firearms range so we will be able to train twice as many people at a time," said Tanner. "We have to have state-of-the-art labs now to do some of our forensic work and our DNA work for serious crimes. All that will be built into this building." Tanner said the facility would also be equipped with special bays where officers can examine vehicles involved in fatal collisions. Currently, Halton police must go as far as an Ontario Provincial Police complex in Orillia to make use of similar bays. Tanner said the new structure would also house several headquarters-related units, which have had to stay at the Oakville station on Oak Walk Drive due to lack of space in the existing headquarters. The Halton police Drug and Morality Unit and the training unit will be among the groups housed within the new facility. "It will take a couple of months to complete the move because we will have some units coming from our current headquarters and some units coming from our building in the north end of Oakville," said Tanner. "All of our training unit will now be together here. Right now some are here for firearms training, some are up in Oakville for Use of Force training. N ow everything will be here." The evidence/seized property warehouse, a facility previously separate, will also be located in this building. When police move out of their existing headquarters, their headquarters' space will be used by Halton Region, which is itself dealing with the problem of outgrowing its facility to H Halton Police Chief Stephen Tanner stands outside the new Halton Regional Police Service Headquarters, which is nearing completion. Construction should wrap up this sum mer with all police units operating within the new facility by year's end. Below, a file photo of the groundbreaking, picturing, from left, Oakville Mayor Rob Burton who is head of the Halton Regional Police Services Board, Tanner and Halton Region Chair Gary Carr. | Nikki Wesley/Metroland U Everyone is anxious to get over there, but we all know that within the next three to four months we'll be moving in. It's going to be a great facility. This will be the first time Halton police have ever had any facility built to these specifications with the kind of technology that is in there. Chief Stephen Tanner Halton Regional Police the point where space has to be rented off-site to accommodate all employees. Tanner said he is looking forward to beginning a new chapter of Halton police history with the opening of the new headquarters. "Everyone is anxious to get over there, but we all know that within the next three to four months w e' ll be moving in," he said. "It' s going to be a great facility This will be the first time Halton police have ever had any facility built to these specifications with the kind of technology that is in there." | Metroland Media file photo