The Moose Jaw Police Service is getting some additional office space across the street after entering an agreement to lease space at the former Times-Herald building. 

The police have been at their current location since 1985 and have grown to 64 officers as well as provincially-funded positions and civilian personnel and room is coming at a premium. 

The Community and Strategic Services unit will be moving over to the new space around May 1. This will include about eight staff members in victim services, the school resource unit and the immediate priority unit. 

“There are often people that don't feel comfortable coming right into the police station, so the building across the street might be a little bit more welcoming, especially for victims of crime. There will be less chance of unintentional encounters between potential victims and offenders,” explained Deputy Chief Rick Johns 

The leased space is about 2,600 square feet on the east side of the building. 

Johns said it would also free up parking space and storage room at police headquarters. 

“Right now, we have roughly 26 cars and about 20 parking stalls, so we find ourselves always juggling cars in the basement of the police service, in the garage, trying to cram in vehicles,” Johns said. 

“So, that will alleviate some of that as well. It will free up some room in our lower level to repurpose that was once storage to change rooms and things of that nature.” 

After the Community and Strategic Services unit is relocated, the current space at the police station will be converted into a classroom for public meetings. 

The lease is for five years for about $5,000 per month. After five years, it’s believed the police service will re-evaluate the arrangement to see if it is working.