The Estevan Police Service's building expansion has been long overdue for a while now. Offices meant for one person are being shared with tons of files all over, some departments have been pushed down into the basement, the kitchen has barely enough room for a mini fridge let alone a full size one or a stove, and the number of officers in the building has outgrown the facility entirely.

The expansion is on time to be finished in January of 2021 and offices will be moved over the month after, and Police Chief Paul Ladouceur is pleased with how things are going.

"The timing of this is very good right now. When we have had members of the public who said, 'why do the police need an expansion?', and I've asked certainly invited people that are questioning that to stop by the police station. I'm happy to give a tour and I haven't had anyone yet that has toured the building and come through that that didn't agree that the space here is quite confined."

The building was built back in the 60's, so it wasn't exactly built to run a city police force in 2020. While that building isn't going to just be put out of commission, a lot of the physical office space will move over from there to the new building. 

"This week, they're doing the main walls. Next week they'll be starting on the roof I believe and moving forward from there to the inside and so on. It's gone very, very well. There hasn't been a whole lot of delays or a whole lot of you know issues that have arisen and, I'm happy to say that we're still on budget. This is good news. You know some of these projects of this nature, it's difficult to see them through without going over and most most projects of this nature have about a 10% overrun, and and we're we're on target still."

For how well the expansion has went so far, Ladouceur is happy with how things have gone. Specifically, there is a couple of people from around the community to thank for the way they've been helping.

"We're really happy with it, and that's the goal. We said we'd do our best to keep this on target and the credit doesn't just go to me. There's a number of people, Norm Mack from the city and and Rod March, and you the mayor and Bernadette Wright, who obviously sits on the police board, and all makeup AJ Valesky from the city building department. There's a number of people that are involved in this project, and they're all doing remarkable work."