New arrest processing unit needed, police say
Existing 50-year-old facility 'out of the dark ages,' police chief says
Calgary may be inching toward a new arrest processing unit for the police service.
It currently uses a small, 50-year-old downtown building to deal with arrested suspects, a facility Police Chief Rick Hanson has joked is "out of the dark ages." Hanson says the building is unsafe for police and prisoners alike and wants to see a new unit constructed.
Hanson says the province has given police land near the Calgary Remand Centre for the new facility, but the force doesn't have any money to start building.
"It's just a matter of... divesting ourselves of the building we're in now and then finding the funding we need to build out there," Hanson said.
Coun. Diane Colley-Urquhart said the matter should be discussed during the upcoming fall budget debate and that she supports putting the current property up for sale to help fund the new building.