The opening ceremony began with a blessing from the police chaplain and a welcome to country from Ngunnawal Elder Warren Daley. Photo: James Day.
The new 6000 sqm ACT Road Policing Centre has officially opened off the Monaro Highway in Hume. The centre will start with 80 staff with capacity to grow to 120.
“The beauty of its size is that it allows for expansion, which will be necessary as Canberra’s population continues to grow,” ACT Chief Police Officer Neil Gaughan said at the opening today (23 June).
As part of the ACT Government’s 25-year accommodation plan, police were provided $7.178 million in funding for the centre. The land it sits on, previously held by Toll Logistics, was leased for 15 years for $4.88 million.
The facility is now home to ACT Policing crash investigation, mobile traffic operations, emergency management and planning.
“It’s fantastic to have our management, technicians and policing team together under one roof,” CPO Neil Gaughan said.
“Over the past few years, they haven’t had the ability to work in a facility that’s fit for purpose. I thank them for their patience while they waited for the opening of this facility.”
Previously the traffic police team was housed at the Belconnen Operations Centre, which suffered a badly damaged roof due to the 2020 hailstorm. As a result, these teams were subject to a variety of issues which prompted a ComCare investigation.
ACT Minister for Police and Emergency Services Mick Gentleman noted that “the work they do is incredibly important for keeping the city safe”, adding that these teams can now operate safely and quickly throughout the Territory via the Monaro Highway, which also provides improved access to Cooma and the South Coast.
The Hume premise provides an undercover vehicle inspection area for crash investigation teams to do their work without having to worry about environmental concerns.
Radio technicians will use the facility to kit out standard vehicles into marked and unmarked police cars and motorcycles. They will also implement number-plate recognition technology in all their traffic control and patrol vehicles, which the technicians developed themselves and own the intellectual property for.
CPO Neil Gaughan said this technology is at the cutting edge of policing in Australia.
“This is the way of the future”.
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