The Future of the Vancouver Police Museum - we are moving

After 40 incredible years at 240 East Cordova street the Vancouver Police Museum & Archives is moving. We have not made this decision lightly.

Whilst we adore operating out of the Coroner's Court and the old Vancouver Morgue, the building and the area has its complications. The most resounding feedback we receive daily is that accessibility to the museum is not good enough, and we completely agree. Having a sizable staircase with no elevator access isn't fair on our visitors and community. Parents and teachers constantly let us know that they do not feel comfortable bringing young children through our city block to visit the museum and take part in our education programs.

We have been conducting community and stakeholder meetings to ask for your opinion and thoughts. We sincerely thank everyone who made the time to have their voices heard at these gatherings. Many of you said the same thing, they love this space, but people are reluctant to bring their families and friends to visit because of where we are currently located, and because of how hard it is to get parking, and to get into the museum.

As education and community engagement is the biggest reason for the museum's existence, we can no longer ignore these issues. The Vancouver Police Historical Society Board, and museum staff members are all in agreeance, we need to make big changes to ensure our future. To that end, the museum is moving.

We are excited to announce we will be reopening at the historic Woodward's building, above Nesters, where we will have elevator access and a larger display area. 

This location also sees the museum closer to the new VPD District 5 and VPD Police Academy. We believe this move will help revitalize this space and keep it a community area. We hope to start with a soft open in November, but will communicate through our website and social media as the move progresses.

If you would like to see the museum in it's current location, we will be continuing operations for the next two months with the plan to close the doors on October 31st.

We feel Halloween is a fitting close for our presence here.

We wish to thank the City of Vancouver for their support over the past four decades, we wouldn't be here without countless individuals tireless effort and continued compassion. We are excited to see what they do with this incredible space moving forward. 

Thank you all and we can't wait for the next 40 years in the new space.

Written by Museum Director, Christie Strauss, September 3rd, 2026