Image: Mike Vanden Bosch / PML / Chilliwack RCMP Superintendent Davy Lee (left, centre) inspects RCMP personnel during Thursday's ceremony marking the celebration of the new Investigative Services Building.

By Mike Vanden Bosch

New RCMP building

Chilliwack RCMP celebrates opening of new Investigative Services Building off Airport Rd.

Nov 25, 2022 | 4:00 AM

CHILLIWACK — Once upon a time, the RCMP building on Airport Road met the needs of a much smaller city dating back to the 1980s.

But with Chilliwack’s rapid growth the past five years that propelled the municipality past 100,000 residents, it became evident to RCMP personnel and city leaders nearly a decade ago that the RCMP had outgrown its existing facility and needed to expand.

Following council approval in 2014 and after $4 million was spent, the RCMP and the City of Chilliwack celebrated the opening of the new Chilliwack RCMP Community Police Office Investigative Services Building Thursday (Nov. 24).

RCMP officers christened the occasion by marching to the new site at 8311 Kiernan Drive, just south of the main detachment. The festivities consisted of a First Nations performance of drumming and music, a prayer from chaplain Angus Haggerty, and remarks from RCMP Superintendent OIC Davy Lee, local First Nations chief David Jimmie, RCMP Sgt. Krista Vrolyk, and a representative from Chilliwack-Hope MP Mark Strahl’s constituency office.

The 26,754-square foot facility, which once served as the City of Chilliwack’s Operations Centre, has been substantially upgraded to better accommodate several departments within the Chilliwack RCMP, including the General Investigative Support Team (GIST), Serious Crime Unit and Digital Field Technicians, the Crime Reduction Unit along with administrative spaces for civilian and police use.

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Image: Mike Vanden Bosch / PML / The new RCMP Investigative Services Building just south of the existing detachment on Airport Road.

Due to the nature of the work occurring in the new facility, it will not be open to the public. The current RCMP building on Airport Road will continue to serve members of the public as usual.

“The expansion to this new building is a reflection of the strong and effective partnership shared between the City of Chilliwack and local RCMP. This modern facility will enable our officers and civilian staff to enhance the delivery of high-quality policing service to the community we serve,” stated Superintendent Davy Lee, Officer in Charge of the Upper Fraser Valley Regional RCMP.

The Chilliwack RCMP has grown steadily since they first moved into the building on Airport Road in 1982. In 1985, Chilliwack had a population of 42,000, with an average annual growth rate of 1.2 per cent. Today, the population has grown to over 100,000. This new building has space for RCMP investigative personnel to grow into and will serve the RCMP and the greater Chilliwack community for many years to come. Policing has changed greatly over the years and as such, there are many state of the art technical capabilities integrated into the space.

“The City has had a vision for this building for many years, and we are happy that through careful and strategic planning, we were able to renovate the old Operations Centre to meet the growing needs of the RCMP. Public safety is a priority for Council, and we are pleased to provide this support to the RCMP as our community continues to grow,” said Mayor Ken Popove.

The facility is so massive and high tech that it will house 18 Wi-Fi access points, 53 cameras, approximately 1,200 network jacks, 178 fibre optic connections, 43.3 kilometres of networking cable, and 3.4 kilometres of fibre optic cable.

“It’s a big project,” RCMP Sgt. Krista Vrolyk said. “For example, it’s designed to allow access for a forklift. Sometimes our exhibits are quite large. There are elevators as well. The tech services are state of the art. The technology that we have in this new building allows our tech team to be probably the most progressive in all of British Columbia. It’s really exciting in that regard. Most of our plain clothes units are the ones that will be housed out of here. It’s a lot of the specialized, more investigative support here, hence the Investigative Services Building name. We’re really excited about this.”

The new facility also features crime victim interview rooms, administrative offices, at least two briefing rooms, and extensive workspaces for crime analysts and serious crime units. There are already built-in Covid barriers, or plexiglass, affixed to cubicle partitions. Cavernous storage rooms will meet the needs of exhibit processing. There’s even the ability to plug in electric vehicles down the road at the facility should the RCMP vehicle fleet go electric.

For security reasons, media were understandably not permitted to photograph, video or record audio during tours of the interior, which is why only pictures of the exterior building were taken.

Image: Supplied by RCMP / Another angle of the $4 million Investigative Services Building.