The chief of the Saugeen Shores Police Service is not going to pass along problems with the police building to his successor.
Dan Rivett says he's pushing council for a solution to the problems with the police service's 16-year old headquarters in Port Elgin, which he points out was built nearly half the recommended size.
Rivett opened the doors for the media to tour the 6,000 sq ft building, while providing a 28-point list of deficiencies, which includes an overall lack of space, but also construction issues with the heating system and leaking doors and windows.
Rivett says there's also security concerns due to a lack of soundproofing for interviews and an inability to keep potentially dangerous suspects separated from civilian staff and the public in general.
He says they correct issues as best they can, but admits they do not have the space to fix all the problems, which has put himself and the municipality in a liability situation.
"If you knew about the problem, you accepted the problem and did nothing about the problem, then you're in trouble," says Rivett. "Well, I know all these problems exist and I've just shown you where they all are, so if I was to have something occur now because of these things, then yeah, I'm on the hook."
Rivett has spent the past eight years unsuccessfully lobbying council to either renovate or build a new police building on nearby municipally-owned property, but the projects have been delayed each time due to financial factors.
He says a renovation could cost around $4-million, while a new build would be at least $5-million for a police-only facility and upwards of $7-million if they built a shared facility with Bruce County EMS.
Rivett says the working conditions do have an impact on his officers, but says they are able to their jobs to the best of their ability, despite the lack of space.
"They try to do as best they can with what they have," says Rivett. "I'm pretty impressed with the job they all do."
The Saugeen Shores Police Service Board will be holding public consultation sessions this summer to gather the public's feelings on how to solve the issues with the police building and Rivett says they hope to bring forward either a renovation or new build plan to council for 2017 budget talks this fall.
An interview room in the cell area of the Saugeen Shores Police Service building, which has been converted into a storage room and has never been used for its intended purpose.
