Police association says lack of parking at new HQ a safety concern

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This article was published 16/12/2015 (3610 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The province’s workplace safety agency is investigating concerns a lack of parking around the new police headquarters could lead to more attacks against officers.

The Winnipeg Police Association, which represents about 1,400 Winnipeg Police Service officers and 450 civilian employees, has been raising concerns for five years about parking at the new headquarters, which it says should be made available in a fenced, card-access lot for officers and staff. Now that the police service’s long-awaited move into the former Canada Post building at 245 Smith St. is underway, the union has called on Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health to try to resolve the issue.

Winnipeg Police Association President Maurice Sabourin said there have been roughly 20 incidents per year in which officers were assaulted or threatened while leaving work at night, or have had their personal vehicles vandalized around the previous police headquarters, the Public Safety Building on Princess Street. Some have reported being attacked by groups of people or followed home as they drove their own cars, he said. Others had lug nuts removed from their vehicles’ wheels, holes drilled into the gas tank and threats scratched into the paint.

Sabourin said the police service had ample time to address the issue before the move into the new $214-million headquarters, which began Tuesday and is set to be complete this summer. Because of its downtown location, the headquarters doesn’t have surface parking lots dedicated for officers’ personal vehicles, and officers working opposite shifts may share monthly parking passes in nearby lots, paying to park their private vehicles.

During a media tour of the headquarters earlier this week, police spokesman Const. Jason Michalyshen said there is more parking available near the new police HQ than there is at the Public Safety Building on Princess Street.

He said some officers, including himself, are sharing spaces in privately owned lots or parkades, due to the high cost involved.

He said staff leaving the building are offered an escort to their cars upon request.

In response to safety concerns following after-hours attacks on officers, the police service implemented a safe walk program and allowed officers to carry weapons to and from work starting in 2010.

“I think the service recognizes that there is a danger, because there’s been many safety initiatives that have been put into place, but ultimately the incidents are still happening even though those initiatives are in place,” Sabourin said.

“I really think it comes down to dollars and sense, but you really have to ask yourself (about) the safety of the people that protect the City of Winnipeg – what are their lives worth? Because I think it’s going to be a matter of time until someone gets seriously hurt.”

A spokeswoman for Workplace Safety and Health said the agency is looking into the matter.

— with file from Bartley Kives

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

Video: First look at the new Winnipeg police headquarters

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