Vernon officials hope new location will make community policing office more accessible

VERNON – Vernon’s Community Policing Office is moving to a more high profile location.

Vernon council decided to relocate the office from its current location at 2900 32 Avenue to a city-owned property a few blocks away on 31 Avenue — known as the Toppers Cleaners building.

“What we’ve heard from community policing is that since they moved away from Main Street, they’ve had fewer drop-ins,” Coun. Juliette Cunningham says, noting years ago the office was located on 30 Avenue, downtown Vernon's main drag. It was moved to the city-owned building on 32 Avenue to save on rent. 

The new location will be by the Greyhound station and public transit loop at Cenotaph Park. Because it is also city-owned, there won't be any rent and Cunningham feels it is a more central location. 

“I actually think that location would be ideal because you get a lot of people using transit, and if they have any issues it will be right there,” Cunningham says. “If you’re going to have a community policing office, it’s really important to have it accessible to the public that might be using it.”

Once the policing office moves out of the 32 Avenue location, that building will be demolished.

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