An auditor-general's analysis showed almost half of the current police infrastructure assets owned or leased by the ACT government were rated "below average" or "average" and required "immediate or imminent renewal or replacement".
The report comes after two of the police stations in the ACT have only just resumed full operational status after they were closed down to due environmental risks in March.
Gungahlin's shared facility with the Emergency Services Agency was abandoned and all staff - including fire and ambulance officers - sent elsewhere after lead and particulate matter was found in the ceiling cavity. A promised report on the contamination has not been forthcoming.
City station, which was built in 1966, had repeated instances of water seeping into the building whenever there was a downpour.
Former ACT chief police officer Neil Gaughan had been sharply critical of City Station, declaring it "not fit for purpose" and transferred all but front office and watch house staff across to AFP headquarters in Barton. They have only just returned.
Back in 2018, an independent audit identified more than $26 million worth of defects at ACT Policing sites which required more than 100 rectification projects but only $1.2 million had been allocated in the 2022-23 budget to fix the ongoing problems.
Since then, officers, technicians and planners, most of whom fall under the Road Policing branch, have moved out of one of the most trouble-plagued buildings - the former Traffic Operations Centre on Lathlain Street, Belconnen behind the Winchester Police Centre - and into new premises in Hume.
The costs for the latest extensive repairs to City and Gungahlin stations have not been disclosed.
Commercial real estate assessment company JLL Australia was engaged in 2021 to develop a 20-year master accommodation plan for all its sites "to enable planning of timing for addressing fixing and refurbishment of facilities and properties".
However, the inference from the auditor's report was that the Justice and Community Safety directorate has not fulfilled its obligation to support police on its infrastructure needs, noting that "decision-making on the funding of major works and upgrades has been hampered by the lack of a Strategic Asset Management Plan for ACT Policing facilities".
The plan, the report noted, was not expected to be implemented before 2024-25.
The hunt for a new city headquarters to replace Winchester Police Centre, which is a former ACT apprentice training facility and sits on a huge slab of prime land ripe for redevelopment in Belconnen, has been slow to progress, although minister Mick Gentleman recently described it as "well-advanced".
