Local Mounties will have shiny new digs by end of the month.
The new Kelowna Police Services building on Clement Avenue is expected to be largely complete by March 24, although it won香蕉视频直播檛 be operational until around June.
The project that is both on schedule and sticking to its $48 million budget, offers the local police 107,000 square feet of space, which is about four times the size of the current 1960s era building on Doyle Avenue.
As building co-ordinator, reserve Const. Kerry Solinsky pointed out during a Friday morning media tour, the space has been needed for awhile.
Some officers have literally been working in a closet at the current building. Others were working out of offices spread across three locations throughout the city.
Now they will have a space and up-to-date technology that will allow them to complete their work in a more seamless fashion.
Officers will also get a much bigger lunch room and a sizeable gym.
It香蕉视频直播檚 not just those who work in the building that reap the rewards of the new building either.
Law breakers will have some more space as well. Solinsky said there are 22 cells in the old facility and they香蕉视频直播檙e often full on holiday weekends.
The new building has 29 cells that hold a maximum of three people each.
There is also some benefit to the non law-breaking public. Those who needed to go in for fingerprinting or other services once had to go to cells. Now, there香蕉视频直播檚 a station for what they need in the entry way.
Basically, everything has a place in the new facility and it香蕉视频直播檚 not old, cramped and outdated.
Kelowna city planner Andrew Gibbs said that the new building is expected to last for at least 40 to 50 years.
The old one will eventually be demolished, though it香蕉视频直播檚 unclear when that will happen.
