Has the location of the city’s new police precinct in the downtown core already been identified? Well, that all depends on who you ask.
On Wednesday, Downtown Association Chair Nicholas Rosset told a meeting of the business group's board that Sault Ste. Marie Police Service has selected a location for its new core-area presence, but it will take some time to get its downtown division up and running.
The total spend on capital costs and the 17 officers the police service has said it requires for a downtown division would equal a $3.6-million commitment that will be spread out over a period of four years. The price tag includes the acquisition of a building downtown in order to support the new division.
"It looks like it's all moving forward and it should be a big benefit to our membership and community,” Rosset told board members during the meeting. “But again, it's going to take some time."
Speaking with SooToday on Thursday, Sault Ste. Marie Police Service spokesperson Lincoln Louttit said a site for the downtown precinct has yet to be selected or confirmed.
“We don’t have any agreements signed, or any plans or any of that sort of stuff yet — we’re still exploring some of those options,” Louttit said.
Sault Ste. Marie Police Services Board Chair John Bruno did not respond to a request made by SooToday for details. But Ward 4 Coun. Marchy Bruni, who currently sits on the police board as a municipal appointee, told SooToday via email Thursday that a “location has been identified.”
“But I cannot reveal the location as of yet, because the lease has not been signed,” Bruni said.
One thing, however, is certain: There have been a number of calls for an increased police presence downtown over the course of the past decade.
In 2013, city council approved a resolution to look into the possibility of establishing a Sault Ste. Marie Police Service satellite office on Gore Street as a pilot project.
Five years later, the police service officially opened a satellite office in the Station Mall known as the ‘jump station’ to increase its presence in the downtown area.
At the time, the police service said the satellite office would house full time staff and be used as a space where officers could file reports and executive meetings could take place. It was also intended to serve as the headquarters for the police bike patrol and a volunteer patrol for Crime Stoppers.
There's also been talk around relocating the physical headquarters for the police service from its current home on Second Line East to the city's downtown.
In 2021, then-mayor Christian Provenzano revealed he had discussions with Sault Ste. Marie Police Service Chief Hugh Stevenson about moving the police headquarters downtown, and that the police board was interested in leaving the existing building on Second Line East, which first opened its doors in 1968.
"I would like to see that building built in the downtown," the mayor told council at the time. "I would like to see all those employees brought into the downtown core. I think there's a lot of sense to locate the building in the downtown."
It’s a move Provenzano’s successor has also supported in recent years.
Sault Ste. Marie Mayor Matthew Shoemaker — while serving in his previous role as a member of council — penned an open letter in 2021 advocating for a new police station downtown.
In that letter, Shoemaker revealed that Sault Ste. Marie Police Service spends nearly $175,000 each year on building maintenance. In its 2022 budget, the police service asked for an additional $200,000 in maintenance funds.
Shoemaker ended up pushing back on that request. “We shouldn’t be spending a total of $375,000 per year on maintenance of a 50-plus-year-old building,” he wrote.
The following year, members of the police board agreed that it was time for the city’s police service to move into a new home after being taken on a tour of the Second Line East facility.
“There’s literally no room for any expansion — offices are filled with boxes. It’s a maze,” said former board member Rick Webb, adding that the facility was “woefully inadequate.”
“This building is well past its prime,” Webb continued. “It’s in a bad location. It needs to change and it needs to move.”
After being elected as mayor in the 2022 municipal elections, Shoemaker reiterated his campaign promise to boost the police presence downtown — either in the form of a new headquarters or a downtown precinct — during a sit-down interview with Village Media Editor-In-Chief Michael Friscolanti in May 2023.
“I’m hoping to make progress on it throughout the term: having a downtown police presence,” the mayor said at the time. “I do not think that you’re going to arrest your way out of an addictions problem because it’s not a criminal justice issue. It’s a healthcare issue that needs a healthcare response.
“But having a police presence in the downtown area will reassure those people who say ‘I’m never going to go downtown’ that they are safe.”
No time frame has been given by either the police board or the police service as to when the downtown division will be fully operational.