York Region police are hiring a private security firm to guard their own building in Aurora.
On the surface, its an ironic twist, admitted deputy chief Tom Carrique, who said the $700,000, three-year contract makes sense because its cheaper than having police monitor the building.
It was undesirable to "tie up the resources of highly skilled officers" to perform a monitoring task 24/7, he said. "Monitoring a security camera does not warrant the attention of a fully trained police officer."
The year-old, $72.5 million building houses a centralized customer service counter, forensic laboratories, investigative bureaus such as the homicide and holdup squads, plus the canine unit and traffic services.
Police Chief Eric Jolliffes report to the police services board last week said private security is the most "cost-effective means of monitoring the facility for any suspicious activity and reporting any security concerns."
The private security firm will be responsible for monitoring the 245,000-square-foot building, where 430 employees work on a range of schedules, and a parking structure with 400 spots.
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