The Alberta Police and Peace Officer Training Centre is not just important to Fort Macleod.

People from other communities turned out March 23 to voice their support for the project.

“It’s an awesome thing for this town,” Granum Mayor Melva Stinson said. “It would be a great thing for our town too.”

More than 300 people came from Fort Macleod, Granum, Pincher Creek, Lethbridge, Barons, Calgary and other centres for the public meeting. MD of Willow Creek Reeve Henry Van Hierden also expressed his council’s support for the project.

“Anything we can do to help,” Van Hierden offered.

Pincher Creek Mayor Gary Mills made the trip to show his town’s support for the police college being built in Fort Macleod.

“The reason I’m here is to support the endeavours of the people of Fort Macleod,” Mills said.

Mills also spoke as a former member of the RCMP who understands the need for both basic and ongoing training.

Mills said RCMP departments in Alberta and western Canada find it challenging to get their members the professional development they need, after basic training at Depot.

There is limited space at the Canadian Police College in Ottawa, where members take courses three to four days in length.

“One of the things we lack desperately in this country is a Canadian Police College West,” Mills told Oberle. “The ideal situation is a Canadian Police College West, right here in Fort Macleod.”

Oberle did not dispute the need for ongoing training in Alberta.

“A new officer just doesn’t go to college for a year and then he’s fully trained,” Oberle said.

Fort Macleod resident James Bilstad urged Oberle to make the police college a reality soon.

Bilstad compared the college to the proposed realignment of Highway 2 and Highway 3 at Fort Macleod, which has been talked about for years.

“I just hope this doesn’t go the way the highway and 40 years from now we’re still trying to get answers,” Bilstad said.