Editor's Note: The date and location for the July meeting has been changed. The meeting will now take place on Wednesday, July 20, from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Rotary Hall at The Plex. The Southamtpon meeting in August is still going forward as planned.

The Saugeen Shores Police Services Board has released a public statement on the state of the Saugeen Shores Police building and is seeking the public's input.

The 6,000 square foot building, located at 620 Tomlinson Drive, was constructed in the year 2000. According to the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services inspectors, the building lacks adequate space to accommodate police operations for Saugeen Shores.

"The building has always been undersized for our needs,” said Police Chief Dan Rivett pointing out that, in 1999, former Chief Paul Brown had advised that the service needed a 10,000 square foot police building. "The lack of space creates a significant number of deficiencies in our operations and the problem only gets worse the more time goes by,” Rivett added.

The report lays out a lengthy list of the building's deficiencies in the areas of evidence storage, security of persons, access to technology, appropriate storage of equipment and operating efficiency. "Each of these deficiencies reduces the ability of the police service to provide adequate policing for our community,” said Police Board Chair Luke Charbonneau. "We felt it was important to lay this out for the public so everyone can see the effect that insufficient space in the police building is having on our ability to provide adequate service."

The Board is creating opportunities for the public to give input on the concerns raised in today’s statement and on possible solutions. The statement is available here. The Board will be seeking the public's input on the issues raised in the statement at public information sessions to be held on July 14 at 7 p.m. at the Port Elgin Fire Hall and on August 17 at 7 p.m. at the Southampton Town Hall.

The Board is also seeking two members of the public to join a committee that has been struck to make recommendations on how best to address the facility and infrastructure needs of the Saugeen Shores Police. Application forms for persons interested in joining this committee are now available here.

"Our intention, at this stage, is to have a dialogue with the public about the problems and to hear from them about what steps should be taken to overcome them,” Charbonneau said.