Government Partnership Invests in Vancouver Police Building

Investment will create jobs, expand public safety facilities and aid forensics unit

• Backgrounder

Vancouver, British Columbia, October 23, 2009 – The Honourable John Baird, Canada's Transport and Infrastructure Minister; The Honourable Kash Heed, Solicitor General of British Columbia; Deputy Mayor Raymond Louie; and Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu today announced funding of up to $30.3 million for upgrades to the City of Vancouver's public safety facilities.

The Government of Canada and the Province of British Columbia will each provide $10 million, while the City of Vancouver will invest $10.3 million in the project, bringing the total investment to $30.3 million.

“Under the leadership of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, our Government is proud to invest in the Vancouver Police through Canada's Economic Action Plan,” said Minister Baird. “This is a great project that will create jobs in the short term and give the Vancouver Police Department better facilities to fight crime.”

“We have put additional police resources on the street to tackle gang activity and organized crime,” said Solicitor General Heed. “These are complex investigations with large amounts of evidence, including vehicles, illegal weapons and DNA. This new facility will greatly aid police in preparing cases that result in convictions.”

“As crime-fighting technology improves, it's imperative that the City's police department has the proper facilities to process and store the evidence that is crucial to their Vancouver investigations,” said Mayor Gregor Robertson. Mayor Robertson, who is in Greece attending Olympic flame-lighting ceremonies, was represented at the event by Deputy Mayor Raymond Louie.

“Advances in forensic science are increasingly valuable in crime fighting but storing the thousands of items that need to be analyzed can be challenging,” said Chief Constable Jim Chu of the Vancouver Police Department. “We will now have a greatly enhanced ability to conduct forensic examinations on crime vehicles and other evidence.”

The new federal $4-billion Infrastructure Stimulus Fund provides support to provincial, territorial and municipal construction-ready infrastructure rehabilitation projects that will be built in 2009 and 2010.

The project is funded under the Province's three-year, $14-billion capital
infrastructure program, which will help build vital public infrastructure in every region of B.C.

To date, in addition to today's announcement, 312 infrastructure projects in British Columbia will receive a total investment of $780 million under the Infrastructure Stimulus Fund.

For more information on the Economic Action Plan, please visit: www.actionplan.gc.ca.

For more information on B.C. Government services, visit the Province's website at
www.gov.bc.ca.

Contacts:

Chris Day
Press Secretary
Office of Canada's Transport and Infrastructure Minister
613-991-0700

Media Relations
Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General
Province of British Columbia
250-356-6961

Corporate Communications
City of Vancouver
604-871-6336

Constable Jana McGuinness
Vancouver Police Department
604-717-2807

Infrastructure Canada
613-948-1148

Backgrounder
POLICE PROPERTY OFFICE AND FORENSIC STORAGE FACILITY VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA

The Government of Canada and the Province of British Columbia will each contribute $10 million to make important upgrades to the Police Property Office and Forensic Storage Facility. The City of Vancouver will provide $10.3 million, bringing the total investment to $30.3 million.

This project involves the development of a Property and Forensic Storage Facility including an additional 65,000 square feet to provide a new consolidated Property Office for receiving, storage and safekeeping of found and seized property and evidence, and the construction of vehicle forensic laboratories and associated storage.

Among the results expected for this project:

• providing a consolidated and secure property storage office to meet the evidentiary needs of the Police Department;
• upgrading existing public safety facilities; and
• relocating the forensic operations to modern facilities.

The federal financing will come from the Infrastructure Stimulus Fund. Federal funding is conditional on the projects meeting all federal program and environmental requirements.

The project is funded under the Province's three-year, $14-billion capital infrastructure program, which will help build vital public infrastructure in every region of B.C.