Cop shop to pop across the street
- Details
- Published on Thursday, January 14, 2016
By Sheila Runions
Banner Staff
When municipal amalgamation was forced in Manitoba last year, RM of Daly’s office became empty because operations were consolidated to the Town of Rivers office. The town office is home to municipal staff, the public works garage, Rivers-Daly Fire Department, Rivers 50-Plus Club and Rivers Police Service.
The police station has been part of the municipal office since 1955, though at that time the location was the 400 block of Second Avenue, not the 600 block like today. When Prairie Crocus Regional Library moved into the former Royal Bank building in 2001, that space was renovated into offices and holding cells/interrogation rooms for Rivers Police. In another six or eight weeks, police will be making its fourth move in 61 years.
Chief Bruce Klassen asked Rivers Police Board for permission to move into the empty Daly office and that request was granted in early fall. He then provided renovation plans to contractors and three tenders were submitted early last month. By mid-December the board accepted the lowest tender ($23,000) and Magnum Woodworks began work just before Christmas.
Owner Steve Kroeker lives northeast of Rivers and has been running his own business for five years; he has 19 years carpentry experience. He is now modifying the front entrance into a secure hallway and converting the council chamber into three rooms. The west half of the former chamber has been divided into two eight- by eight-foot interview rooms/holding cells while the remaining 16- by 16-foot space is a processing area.
“It will house our fingerprint and photograph station and the intoxalizer,” says Klassen. “My theory is that when processing people we will come in the back door and work with them there. There will be a secure door between the back office and front area so there’s no way for them to come running up front and disrupting the day-to-day routine; the front will be for walk-in traffic.”
The eight-foot long front entrance is considered secure because the floor-to-ceiling hallway walls are filled with soundproof insulation and the stud frames are covered with five-eights plywood before the half-inch gyproc is affixed. The interview rooms are also soundproofed and are double-walled. Magnum Woodworks is also framing in the basement stairway and installing a secure door which will ensure no accidents occur when police bring people in the back — the door’s landing leads straight ahead or down the basement. Steve expects to be done the work (framing, mudding, painting) in a month so Klassen and his crew can move in by the end of February.
Bruce is excited for the move “because we have the whole building. It is open and friendly. One of the biggest things for me will be sitting in Lorne’s old office; I can see the street, the store, the train tracks….. If I see something happening I can begin to identify this stuff before it becomes a huge problem.”
When the police move, their current space will be empty; no decision has been made on what it will be used for. Perhaps it will become a more private break room for office staff or maybe the adjoining fire department will use it for training space. As for Riverdale Harvest which operates out of Daly’s basement, that board is discussing where they can move to; keep reading as that announcement will be made in this paper when the news is confirmed.
