Thunder Bay police board votes to move forward with security measures at city police headquarters

The Thunder Bay Police Services Board has voted to move forward with increasing security outside city police headquarters on Balmoral Street, but funding for the $107,000 project would need to come from the city budget.

The work, as approved by the board at its Tuesday meeting, would involve installing new signage and barriers outside the police building; the project is a scaled-back version of an earlier proposal, which would have seen fencing and security gates installed.

However, estimates for the fencing and gates came in at more than $600,000, which prompted the board to seek less-expensive alternatives.

Thunder Bay police director of communications and technology Chris Adams told the board Tuesday that the new plan is designed to change traffic patterns around the station.

"Many years ago, when we started looking at the security concerns of the parking lot, one of the things we identified was the fact that it was very easy for visitors, or people that were a bit of a threat to us, to be able to drive in and survey most of the employee parking," Adams said. "This design would allow us to basically cut off most of the employee parking."

Adams said while signage would only be effective for people who respect it, he said that the new measures would make it "easier for our members to be able identify who should be there and who shouldn't."

Police Chief Sylvie Hauth told the board there is no money in the budget to pay for the project, so any funding would need to come from the city.

The board voted to discuss the project and its funding, with the city. If funding is not immediately available, the work could be included for consideration in the city's 2022 budget process.