A new Regina Police Service (RPS) office is now open in Regina’s Cornwall Centre.

Going forward, security guards won’t be the only type of protection inside, with the first “hub” office in the province as a way to have a stronger police presence in both the mall and the surrounding downtown.

As a vacant space for two years, the centre brought up the idea of this office to the police last year.

“What we saw were gaps in coverage in years prior, because it was taking members of the downtown safety team and the [Alternative Response Officers] out of the downtown to have to go in and work on the clerical type things all back over to the police station,” said Katie Dockham, the general manager of the Cornwall Centre.

Currently, the RPS said 27 officers are dedicated to the downtown area, while the Cornwall Centre uses up to 10 security guards at a time.

The existing presence, plus the heavy foot traffic in the mall, makes it the ideal place for a new satellite office.

“The RPS has been tracking data since, especially since the launch of the ARO program,” said Dockham. “Statistics and data is how we measure that success, and it won’t look any different than that for us. So, we’ll take the historical data that we have and start to see what that looks like and how the needle shifts, post opening of this police office.”

“We know that increased police visibility leads to perceptions of safety increasing,” said Acting Police Chief Lorilee Davies. “So, I think anything that we can do to increase our presence and visibility in downtown, I think will be well received by the community.”

The office will be considered a hub, where officers can do their work but police say the main headquarters right down the street is the recommended place to report potential outside crimes.