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London

Could Aylmer be getting a new police college?

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Speaking at the London Police Service Chief’s Gala at RBC Place London, Doug Ford said his government would spend $1 billion on a new police college.

Doug Ford said his government would spend $1 billion on a new police college.

Speaking at the London Police Service Chief’s Gala at RBC Place London on Wednesday evening, Ford didn’t give any further details.

In October, the province added 80 spaces at the current police college in Aylmer, for basic constable training.

In an e-mail to CTV News, Ford’s office said this isn’t the first time he has mentioned a new college — adding it was also talked about at the Peel police gala in October.

Built on the site of the decommissioned Royal Canadian Air Force Station, Aylmer, the first two classes of the new Ontario Police College commenced Jan. 7, 1963 with 64 recruits representing police services from all over Ontario.

According to the province, in 1975, the college underwent a $28-million expansion, which included construction of living accommodations for over 500 students and instructors, a dining hall, new classrooms and auditoriums, a forensic laboratory, a library, improved physical fitness facilities, both indoor and outdoor firing ranges, and three kilometres of driver training track.