A new "administrative hub" for the Stratford Police Service (SPS) is now open at 789 Erie St.
Here’s what the public needs to know:
Front line policing will still be conducted out of their current downtown headquarters at 17 George St., but back office support and alternate reporting work will be shifted to the new Erie Street location.
Anything related to Freedom of Information requests, copies of reports, pardons, file destruction, taxis, and record checks are being handled at the new location, which is right behind the Ford dealership on Erie Street.
Background record checks can be done online as well.
Any other police assistance, like reporting a crime, can be done at 17 George St.
The idea of a new administrative hub on Erie Street was announced in October 2023, with police entering into a five-year lease at the location.
Due to inadequate space at their George Street headquarters, the service looked into expanding their footprint.
“We've had several consultant reports over the past 20 years that have laid out what the police need to be able to effectively and efficiently provide,” SPS Chief Gregory Skinner said at the time. “And so we've been out looking for additional space as an interim stopgap measure to be able to modernize the police service.”
Although a necessary addition, Skinner previously told StratfordToday that SPS operations may return to under one roof in the future.
Since Erie Street’s announcement, an engineer has assessed the expansion of the current headquarters on George Street.
That report is not public as of yet, but Skinner said that overall it found that some land on the site is suitable to build on and some is not.
It’s Skinner’s wish to remain downtown and the police services board is hoping to maintain the current location and expand, assuming that the site has suitable space for what the police and the courts need.
