In dire straits and “dangerously breaking down,” Greater Sudbury Police Service headquarters is “no longer a suitable or safe space to work.”
So describes a recently released open letter by Sudbury Police Association president Matt Hall on behalf of the association board and members, which they’ve addressed to the police board.
They want a new building as soon as possible.
“The Sudbury Police Association urges you, the police services board, to make this a priority, as the building is failing and falling apart, which has made it extremely unsafe for all members who work here, as well as members of the public who attend here,” Hall wrote.
“We are lucky that no members or members of the public have been injured from this dilapidated building.”
The letter describes several building and equipment issues in recent months, including the presence of high levels of lead in the drinking water, a water leak, facia beginning to fall off the building’s exterior, electrical issues and what they describe as a “catastrophic flood” on Oct. 2 which resulted in ceiling cave-ins on the first floor and various areas damaged by water.
Police board chair Al Sizer told Sudbury.com this week that he’d received the letter and that it reaffirmed the board’s ongoing push for a new police building.
“We know we have some issues with the building,” he said, adding that it’s anticipated the existing building will require tens of millions of dollars in repairs over the next decade to remain functional.
Even so, the main GSPS building is undersized and vertical rather than a horizontal build, which police organizations consider best practice.
It also doesn’t house all police operations.
Police work out of three main campuses, including the main headquarters at 190 Brady St. (69,014 square feet), 128 Larch St. (14,728 square feet) and the Lionel E. Lalonde Centre in Azilda (31,800 square feet).
A new, larger building would bring everything together under one roof.
Sizer said an update on the long-discussed new police building will be presented to the board on Oct. 16, which is expected to highlight such things as costs.
“I’d love to be able to start (construction of a new police building) tomorrow, but we’ve got to look at what’s being presented to us, and then the board has to approve and then it has to go to council approval and financing and then we go to a build,” Sizer said. “We’re a couple years out, for sure ... if approved.”
The expressed need for new police headquarters has been long-established, with then-Chief Paul Pedersen saying in 2022 that a new police building isn’t a want, but a need “that will ensure effective policing so that we can deliver service for our community.”
In 2017, a new building was estimated to cost $55 million and last approximately 50 years. By 2019, the project was estimated to cost $65 million.
Main police headquarters at 190 Brady St. were converted from office space in the 1990s, whereas Sizer said the new building would be purpose-built.
The following are the building/equipment failures the Sudbury Police Association cited in their open letter:
- In December 2023, high levels of lead were detected in the drinking water, resulting in water restrictions, with issues persisting for more than a month.
- In May, there was a major water leak from the fourth floor that caused damage to floors four, three and two. Repairs were completed last month.
- In May, there were cooling systems which overheated the servers, and there have been ongoing power and cooling issues with the sixth-floor server room.
- In July, the facia on the outside southeast corner began to fall into the second-floor patio, which is an ongoing issue.
- In September, there were electrical issues on the sixth floor in the 911 Emergency Communications Centre, where smoke started to fill the room. Staff were evacuated and set up shop in a back-up location, causing disruption in service while they transitioned.
- On Oct. 2, a flood affected the second, first and basement floors, with water damage so extensive that the 911 Emergency Communications members were relocated for a 12-hour period. Network links were cut off, resulting in the loss of vital services, and ceiling cave-ins took place on the first floor.
“The stress of the failures of this building is making it hard for our members to provide adequate and effective policing to the community when we are constantly being disrupted and not permitted to work safely in our police building at 190 Brady St,” Hall wrote in his letter.
“We call on the police services board to create an immediate plan for a safe workplace for all Sudbury Police Service members and communicate that plan to the Sudbury Police Association and its members.”
The Oct. 16 police board meeting will begin at 10 a.m. and can be viewed in-person in council chambers at Tom Davies Square (200 Brady St.). A livestream will also be made available, the access details of which Sudbury.com will report on when they’re made available.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.