'Ball is rolling' on plans for new police station in ByWard Market, Ottawa police say

The Ottawa Police Service is working on plans to set up a storefront police station in the ByWard Market, CTV News Ottawa has learned.

A weekend shooting at an establishment on Clarence Street that left bystanders with gunshot wounds is the latest incident in the area where people feel unsafe.

Mayor Mark Sutcliffe campaigned on a promise to open a community resource centre in the ByWard Market, along with hiring 100 more officers over four years.

Now, police tell CTV News Ottawa "the ball is rolling" on plans to establish a new neighbourhood operations centre for police and social services to operate under one roof in the tourist area.

"It is a bricks-and-mortar; a forward-facing neighbourhood operations centre," Acting Supt. Ken Bryden says.

"It's another collaborative effect to put all the right services, all the right programs, all the right sort of skills and subject matter experts together as collectively and collaboratively as we possibly can to address what are very complex needs, predominantly, in the downtown core and the ByWard Market.

"It's to have all those services together, you know, literally under one roof is the vision. It is something that is in the works."

Four men were injured in a shooting on Clarence Street in the ByWard Market early Saturday morning. Police have said it was a targeted shooting, and bystanders were wounded by gunfire.

Bryden says Ottawa police do step up patrols in the ByWard Market in the summer.

"Predominantly on the weekends, Thursday through to Sunday, we increase our presence in the market," Bryden said.

"It's a proactive approach to essentially show a much more thick, obvious presence in the downtown core-ByWard Market area specifically. It's with that extra presence that we hopefully deter and if not prevent a crime like that from even happening in the first place."

Last week, business owners in the ByWard Market called on a city committee to increase security in the market area to address safety. Rideau-Vanier Coun. Stephanie Plante told CTV News Ottawa on Saturday she would like to see a "hub" set up in the market area with police and OC Transpo special constables.

Bryden says police are working with various community and social services departments and community partners to discuss what should be included in the neighbourhood operations centre in the market or downtown area.

"It's various community partners that, obviously, sort of live and work in the downtown core. Our stakeholders in this type of venture that have a say and should have a say on location and exactly what it is," Bryden said.

"It's very much in preliminary stages but it's on the table. It's been spoken about amongst city departments and the mayor's office and it is very much a collaborative effort on who and what should be included and at that table to ultimately provide those services."

Bryden says there are a "lot of moving parts" with a venture like a new neighbourhood operations centre, and it could be 2024 before it is in operation.

"At the end of the day, it's about community safety and well-being, period."