Nassau County To Get $40 Million Police Academy Training Center
GARDEN CITY, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Construction on an estimated $40 million police academy training center in Nassau County is expected to begin later this year.
The facility will be built on the Nassau Community College campus in Garden City. It'll be the department's first county-owned training and intelligence facility.
Nassau County To Get $40 Million Police Academy Training Center
The county and the nonprofit Nassau County Police Department Foundation issued a request for design proposals on Feb. 3. Bidding ends Wednesday.
County Executive Ed Mangano said the county will contribute $10 million from asset forfeiture funds and the rest will come from private donations to the police foundation, WCBS 880's Sophia Hall reported.
"This is a wise investment," Mangano said. "But you really can't measure it in the dollars of the building, it's what goes on in that building."
The center will serve as a regional training hub for Nassau's 17 village and two city departments. It will eventually include a streetscape village to allow for simulation of drug raids and hostage barricade situations.
The college's criminal justice program also will use the facility.
"Our police training began in trailers, presently now we lease space and we fast learned that our investment in training and intelligence-led policing helps keep our county the safest large suburban county in the nation," Mangano said.
The new facility will replace the current Police Academy, which has been housed at the former Hawthorne Elementary School in Massapequa Park since 2006.
"Our current facility was built and designed as a grammar school, not a Police Academy," said Acting Police Commissioner Tom Krumpter . "Good training is the key to disciplined, effective and fair policing and this new, upgraded and, most importantly, permanent facility will give us everything we need to provide the best and most up-to-date police training to our members."
Groundbreaking is expected by the end of the year and construction completed in 24 months.
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