Police academy moving in new year

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/12/2015 (3754 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For almost 30 years, 130 Allard Ave. was where the Winnipeg Police Service officers received their training, both academic and physical.

Now recruits are in the process of moving downtown to the police service’s new location at 266 Graham Ave., a much bigger and well suited facility for the service.

“It’s a little sad,” said Sgt. Richard McDougall, a resident of Westwood. “We appreciate the support of the community around here… it wasn’t uncommon for the residents around this area to see a mass police presence of recruits outside… they were great about it and we’re going to miss that as we move downtown to a new building.”

The new location’s facilities are much better suited to the police service’s needs. The Westwood location, a repurposed elementary school originally built in the ’60s, is a bit undersized — it still has three-foot-tall water fountains along the halls.

“We were supposed to move two years ago and because of that the building and maintenance has been neglected, issues haven’t been attended to because we don’t want to invest that money,” McDougall, 43, said. “It will cost quite a bit to bring (this building) up, I’m not sure what they will do with it.”

He said that with Sansome Elementary, Westwood Collegiate and École Robert Browning nearby, he doubts the building will be used as a school again. McDougall added that the academy will miss the proximity to Sansome, whose students often participated in interview training for the recruits.

“They love it. We’re thinking of even continuing with that,” he said.

 

The Winnipeg Police Museum will also be moving downtown, with most of the artifacts already settled into their new home. The new building will have one additional classroom for recruits, as well a gym and combat room that are three times the size of the current ones.

“It’s going to be a huge improvement,” McDougall said. “This is where we do cadet training, and all of our inservice. We do a lot of agency training too with Child and Family Services, sheriffs. They all work downtown anyway, so they won’t have to drive here.”

The central location will also be more convenient for recruits travelling from the east side of Winnipeg.

McDougall said the academy will officially close on Jan. 15, 2016 with a recruit class starting in February.

“We’ve got about two weeks to be operationally ready for a class,” he said. “I compare it to moving to a house. Whether you build a brand-new house or are moving into an existing house… there are a lot of things you have to change.”