Police to pitch $15m forensics building
http://www.thespec.com/news/local/ar...nsics-building
Hamilton police want to build a new, state-of-the art forensic lab in the heart of the city’s downtown.
And they want City Hall to pick up most of the $15-million price tag.
The facility, which police say is desperately necessary, will house the forensics lab and other key departments in the plot of land between Mary, Rebecca, Wilson and Catharine streets.
On Wednesday, police will attend the general issues committee meeting to ask for $750,000 towards a $1.5-million design study.
Councillor Lloyd Ferguson, one of the city’s strictest fiscal conservatives, says he’s happy to contribute to the study.
However, when it comes to funding the rest of the project, he thinks the police department will have to wait its turn during next year’s budget process.
“It will have to get in line with all of the other capital requests we have for 2013, which includes aging infrastructure, our Hamilton Housing infrastructure that needs repairs, our lodges, our seniors’ centres,” Ferguson said.
Superintendent Mike Shea says the move is a key part of a plan to modernize the forensics lab, especially because inquiries after cases involving high-profile criminals such as Paul Bernardo and Guy Paul Morin have called for stricter separation of forensic evidence during police investigations.
The new lab will have three, self-contained examination areas — one for any evidence associated with the victim, another for evidence associated with the scene, and a third for evidence associated with the suspect. To prevent possible cross-contamination, all three rooms will have separate exhaust systems.
The police considered renovating the existing forensic laboratory, but found there wasn’t enough space to make the necessary upgrades.
“It’s in such a confined space, there’s just not the geography available,” Shea said.
The land proposed for the new forensics facility has a contentious history of its own. Both the police and the Downtown Mosque were interested in the property, which was formerly owned by the province.
City council voted last spring to purchase a portion of the property on behalf of the police. At that time, the police said they were interested in building a storage unit in the area.
Ferguson said one of the reasons he’s keen to fund the design study is because it will boost the city’s chances of getting funding for the project from the upper levels of government.
“Let’s get this stuff ready, because there’s always funding that can come out from other levels of government and we want to make sure it’s shovel-ready,” he said.
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