Vancouver council greenlights police training academy despite concerns over funding and location

Vancouver city council has approved funding for a dedicated police training centre in the Woodward's building.

Vancouver city council has backed a plan that supports a new training facility for the city’s police department.

On Wednesday, former Vancouver Police Department spokesperson and current ABC Coun. Brian Montague’s motion, called “Strengthening Public Safety Infrastructure” was successful.

It commits around $1.2 million of city funds to create a VPD Police Training Academy in the former London Drugs location at the Woodward’s building in Gastown.

At Wednesday’s meeting, Montague said the current training academy at the Justice Institute of B.C. “is insufficient to meet the needs of police agencies across B.C., not just Vancouver.”

He added the VPD currently has 165 hard vacancies and 156 soft ones.

‘Taxpayer money’

Opposition councillors voted against the motion.

Coun. Rebecca Bligh with Vote Vancouver questioned the funding, and cited a lack of information regarding the plan.

“We’re wrestling with politics really, instead of a decision that we can defend to taxpayers, because this is taxpayer money,” she said.

On Tuesday,CTV News was first to report the JIBC’s criticisms of Montague’s claims around whether it could meet municipal police departments’ recruitment demands.

“The expansion to 432 recruits annually is proceeding as planned and positions JIBC to meet or exceed projected hiring needs across the province,” said Len Goerke, the JIBC’s president and CEO.

Green Party Coun. Pete Fry lobbed questions at Montague about the JIBC’s recent cohort expansion.

Montague said not all of those recruits are for Vancouver, that he had not personally talked to the JIBC, and that the institute doesn’t have the needed capacity.

The ABC councilor added the city’s own training academy would free up Vancouver spots so other jurisdictions would have space to meet their needs.

“We need capacity-building now,” he said, adding that the VPD is capable of putting around 40 officers into a new training facility by May.

Meeting with BIAs

CTV News has learned that a meeting was held recently between the mayor’s office, senior leadership from theVPD and business improvement associations to discuss the training academy plans.

Sources tell CTV News that the mayor’s chief of staff, Trevor Ford, told those attending that if a tenant was not found for the Woodward’ssite, developer Westbank would face foreclosure.

In an email to CTV News, the mayor’s office said “the meeting also included a factual overview of the challenges facing the property after the loss of London Drugs, as well as the potential benefits and implications of a training facility.”

“At no point were individuals asked or required to take a side,” the statement added. “The meeting was part of a broader engagement process to share information and hear perspectives.”

CTV News reached out to Westbank for comment, but did not receive a response.

Questions about location

Landon Hoyt, the executive director of the Hastings Crossing BIA, said the organization is supportive of a police training academy, but doesn’t believe the location is the best suited for the neighbourhood, as the site is prime retail space.

“We don’t believe there’s been enough effort made to attract a new tenant to that space, or provide the wraparound support to be able to recruit and maintain a tenant like that,” he said.

“We would love to see that space preserved for that use specifically, especially when there’s other office and institutional space around the neighborhood.”

Hoyt said he wonders why the VPD doesn’t consider other locations such as the Vancouver Film School at 390 W. Hastings St., which is up for lease only a few blocks away.

“That’s almost exactly the same square footage and already built out to be educational institution space,” he said. “So, we’re a little surprised that a space like that wasn’t considered.”

As for how the mayor has communicated with stakeholders, Hoyt said the BIA found about the proposed plans through the media.

“Weeks went by before we heard anything additional,” he said. “There has been very limited communication about a proposed police training academy in the neighborhood compared to (the new VPD) District 5, which we’ve heard about for a long time.”

Vacancy rates climbing

Conor Finucane, a realtor with NAI Commercial, said since the pandemic, vacancies have risen in Gastown.

“That market’s definitely been affected in a negative way,” he said. “And there has been a bit of an exodus of businesses just like London Drugs.”

As for what the average rate per square foot in the area is, he said it depends on the space and location, but that a site near the old London Drugs could be listed in the range of $20 to $35 per square foot.

“I would say that would probably be a good target rate to have for that London Drugs space,” he said.

Finucane said the prospective tenant would also have to pay operating costs, which are about $15 per square foot, adding industrial spaces would likely be cheaper when it comes to these additional costs.

‘Drain on city resources’

Stewart Prest, a political science lecturer at the University of British Columbia, said the joint plan by the VPD and city raises questions as to why the Woodward’s building is the most suitable location.

“It’s much less clear why that sort of facility can’t be located somewhere where the rent is not going to be such a drain on police resources, which, by extension, are a drain on city resources,” he said.

“And so I think it’s worth asking, ‘Why can’t officers be trained somewhere other than right there?’”

On Wednesday, the mayor’s office told CTV News the VPD will be holding an announcement at the Woodward’s building to provide greater insight as to why it wants the training facility there.