The new ACT Road Policing Centre in Hume opened today.

The new centre is more than 6,000 square metres, and will serve as the new location for ACT Road Policing, Emergency Management & Planning, Fleet and Radio Technicians.

The ACT Government provided more than $5 million of funding towards the centre.

“This new centre sets a benchmark for functionality and fit-out of police accommodation, and allows Police to continue to keep our roads safe,” Mick Gentleman, ACT Minister for Police and Emergency Services, said.

“The ACT Government continues to work with ACT Policing to help deliver state of the art facilities that means that multiple police groups can be housed together.

“With the ACT population continuing to grow, we must work to continue to reduce accidents on our roads. This centre will increase Police’s capacity and house the fleet of vehicles that will help protect Canberrans.”

The centre will provide state-of-the-art accommodation for ACT Policing radio technicians, a crucial group within Road Policing capability. It will provide greater ability for innovation such as the development of automatic number plate recognition equipment on police motorbikes, a capability developed in-house.

The new centre is located close to the Monaro Highway, which will allow police to deploy across Canberra quickly and easily.

About 80 staff will be based at the Centre at first, but as ACT Policing grows, with another 120 staff funded by the ACT Government in the next five years, personnel based at the centre may increase.