Saugeen Shores Police Chief Dan Rivett invited local media to tour the cramped facilities, June 8, where he highlighted deficiencies and liabilities that need to be corrected.
Editor's Note: The date and location for the July meeting has been changed. The meeting will now take place on Wednesday, July 20, from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Rotary Hall at The Plex. The Southamtpon meeting in August is still going forward as planned.
Hub Staff
Saugeen Shore Police Chief, Dan Rivett, invited media to tour the the 16 year old 6,000 square foot police facilities, June 8, which he claims are too small. His hope was to illustrate the point.
Potential legal liabilities and workplace safety hazards were pointed out by Rivett, who has gone to multiple municipal budgetary discussions over the years to advocate for funds for either an addition to the current building or to construct one from the ground up; with thousands of dollars going towards conceptual plans.
Although locked in a secure area, the officers need a better place than a closet and their lockers to store firearms; and also require a proper place to clean them.
On the tour with the approval from the Police Service Board, Chief Rivett provided media with 28 building deficiencies and requirements that he said currently plague the building:
- The Forensic Identification room is too small; there is not a proper area to put two large drying cabinets for drying clothing from major or sexual assaults (property is dried in an unused cell that is secured however, the cell area could contaminate the clothing from DNA left behind from former prisoners).
- The station has one interview room and it is considered a “soft” room, with couches for victims or witnesses (and currently prisoners). It is not soundproof and voices from the building can be heard in recorded statements. Bringing unruly prisoners past civilian staff to get to this room is unsafe. Prisoners cannot be interviewed while handcuffed as it is against their freedoms.
- There is need for a proper storage area for firearms as well as an area for cleaning the weapons. Currently the lunch table room table is the used for cleaning.
- Currently two of the “hard” interview rooms are used as storage facilities.
- Separate rooms are needed for the $40,000 Electronic Fingerprint Scan machine and Breathalyzer equipment as there could be a scuffle that damages equipment.
- HVAC issues keep prisoners’ cells cold, officers use portable heating devices throughout the building but cannot give them to prisoners as they have cords.
- Cells need to be soundproof, so prisoners can have confidential counsel.
- The front reception is not currently secure.
- New washrooms are needed. Currently all people have to be escorted through the secure police area to use the washroom and an officer must monitor every visitor.
- The boardroom is too small. When Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) were on site assisting with the search for missing person Jim Armstrong in March, OPP officers had to work out of the Port Elgin Fire Hall.
- The Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC) is not currently closed-off, which is a Ministry rule.
- Currently officers (21 full time and four part time) do not have room to place their belongings, like duty bags, hats, boots, etcetera.
- One office is currently shared by four sergeants - the office only has room to fit two desks.
Chief Rivett addressed human rights, prisoner freedoms and issues that could come into question at any time. “These things are all potential liabilities, may never happen but I believe when you have this many, something’s going to occur and I didn't want to keep these all to myself,” Rivett said, June 8.
“I think at any point you can be looking at a civil liability or at any point you can be sued. I think the time you have to worry yourself is if you knew about the problem, you accepted the problem and you did nothing about the problem, then you’re in trouble,” Rivett said.
In January, Rivett made the current council aware of these issues. “We’re hoping to bring... a recommendation to council this fall,” in time for budget talks, Rivett said June 8. He expressed that in the past few years he has given council tidbits of what the problems were, “a few here and there,” but understands that now is the time to make moves as he won’t be Chief forever and doesn’t want to retire and leave a new chief with inadequate facilities to deal with.
The current building, which was built in 2000 and advised to be 10,000 square foot, was only built to be 6,000 square feet due to of costs. Since then, approximately $30,000 has been spent on conceptual drawings, the most recent was in 2012 for a new 14,718 square foot facility. The estimated cost at the time was $5 million. When the dollar value for that project was too high, Rivett worked with Bruce County EMS to see about a facility that could house both Saugeen Shores Police and Bruce County Emergency Medical Services (EMS). The estimated price tag for a project of that nature was $7 million in 2013 and has since been delayed multiple times.
Public consultation meetings are happening July 14 at 7 p.m. at the Port Elgin Fire Hall and August 17 at 7 p.m., at the Southampton Fire Hall.
If any member of the public wishes to tour the current facilities, they are invited to contact Chief Rivett for a walk-through.
Four Sergeants share this space.
The “hard” interview room is currently used as storage space, instead of the intended secure room for prisoners. Saugeen Shores Police finds storage spaces anywhere they can, like the ceiling.
Chief Dan Rivett only has space for one additional chair in his office as boxes of personal, budget and other information crowds his space.
