LAPD Personnel Will Soon Train in Style

GRANADA HILLS —  A state-of-the-art Los Angeles Police Department training facility that drew heated criticism from City Council members as it grew in size and cost is set to open next month.

Situated on 44 acres at the base of the Van Norman Bypass Reservoir, the $29-million center includes three firing ranges, a four-mile driving track, a motorcycle course and a mock city scene where recruits and officers can practice handling emergencies such as bank robberies and hostage crises.

The center, officially called the Emergency Vehicle Operations Center and Tactics/Firearms Training Facility, brings together the best elements of similar training facilities from across the nation, said Sgt. Ron Moen, who oversees the emergency driving component.

“This is going to be superior to the others that I am familiar with as far as the buildings, classrooms and the track,” he said. “It is a compilation of the best elements of training centers from around the country.”

In time, police officials expect to train law enforcement officers from smaller departments such as Burbank, Glendale, Santa Monica, El Segundo and Torrance.

Although city officials support improved police training, some have criticized the piecemeal approach the LAPD took in adding amenities to the project.

What began as a $7-million vehicle driving track and a few temporary classrooms grew into a $29-million, top-of-the-line facility after police decided to build a firearms and tactics center at the site instead of in Westchester.

The decision prolonged work by five months, swelled costs and required repeated appearances before the City Council by police officials seeking funds. The increased costs at the upgraded facility were covered by a $176-million bond measure to improve police facilities approved by voters in 1989.

Councilwoman Laura Chick, who chairs the council’s public safety committee, said the repeated requests for money became annoying. The public should have known the full extent of the project from the beginning of the process, she said.

“The public needs to know what we are asking for, how the money is being used and how the project is being managed. We need to make changes before we go to the public, not after,” she said.

Chick said she supports the new facility because it will provide officers with quality training while generating revenue from other law enforcement agencies expected to pay to train at the facility.

Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg has been critical of the project, saying the additional money should have been spent on new police stations citywide and new locker rooms for female officers, some of whom must change into uniforms in closets or hallways.

The councilwoman has said she blames herself and other panel members for not examining the cost increases more closely.

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Construction crews broke ground for the $7-million emergency driving center two years ago, but the scope of the project broadened when police officials decided to build a tactics and firearms training facility at the site, said LAPD Sgt. Bill Dolan, who is overseeing construction at the center.

Police officials moved the firearms and tactics center to the Granada Hills site when they determined the Westchester site was too small and too close to homes and businesses, Dolan said.

The cost of the training center began to rise when three shooting ranges, a mock city scene, observation towers, more track, auditoriums and administrative offices were added, he said. An environmental impact report and design changes pushed the cost to $29 million.

Each time a change was made, he said, police officials had to go before the City Council to ask for more disbursements from the bond fund.

“It’s not like we were handed money to do whatever we wanted,” Dolan said. “The council approved what we were doing with the money. Every time we wanted to make a change, we reported to the council.”

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The expanded project was on schedule to meet its May 1998 completion date until Kuk Dong, the Korea-based parent company of American Kuk Dong, the construction firm building the project, collapsed in the Asian economic crisis in January, City Architect Bill Holland said.

Kuk Dong defaulted on the construction contract, and the project’s bonding company, America International Co. of New York, stepped in and took over in February, Holland said.

Reduced work crews slowed construction as city officials solicited bids from new contractors to finish the job. “We lost five months’ time,” Holland said.

In May, American International Co. awarded Tutor-Saliba Co. of Sylmar the contract to complete the project by late September, Dolan said.

“We got a quality job from American Kuk Dong; unfortunately things were out of their control,” he said.

Only one serious construction-related problem has occurred since the project began, and it did not result in any injuries, he said. A 40-foot section of a 700-foot concrete wall near the city scene collapsed when a fiberglass form failed as concrete was being poured, he said. The manufacturer took responsibility and paid for the repair.

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Dolan walked through the training facility last week as work crews laid flooring, painted railings and caulked stairwells.

He strolled through two classroom buildings set around a central courtyard, past three shooting ranges where up to 72 officers can take target practice, and along the city scene sporting a bank, bar, restaurant, motel, single-family house and gas station. An observation tower provided sweeping views of the four-mile track immediately below and the Santa Susana Mountains.

“One of the builders called the project Disneyland for cops,” Dolan said. “It is going to be a lot of fun, but it is also going to be valuable training.”

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State-of-the-Art Training for Police

New facility will be among finest in the country for getting recruits up to speed.

High-speed chases, paint ball shoot-outs, skidding tires on packed-dirt courses.

Just another day of extreme games for those who like to take a walk on the wild side?

Not exactly.

The heart-stopping action will be closely monitored by LAPD officers at the department’s new multimillion-dollar firearms, tactics and emergency driving facility scheduled to open next month in Granada Hills.

While one wag dubbed the site, “Disneyland for cops,” there is a serious purpose behind what may appear to be fun and games.

The $29-million center, officially called the Emergency Vehicle Operations Center and Tactics/Firearms Training Facility , will train new recruits in firearms, tactics and emergency driving.

The center features three firing ranges, a driving track and a mock city scene, where officers can practice tactical emergencies such as bank robberies or hostage crises.

The design brings together the best elements of similar training facility across the nation, police officials said. It may eventually serve as a training ground for other law enforcement officers from smaller departments such as Burbank, Santa Monica, Glendale, El Segundo and Torrance, among others.

The center was paid for through a $176-million bond issue to improve police facilities approved by voters in 1989. Work began on the project in July 1996 and is scheduled for completion on Sept. 23.

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Firing ranges: Up to 72 officers at a time can take target practice in three firing ranges. The ranges are also outfitted with divots in the concrete floor that will allow training staff to put up walls, pop-up targets and other obstacles to simulate chase scenarios through alleyways and urban neighborhoods.

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Situation-simulation village: Complete with a mock bank, bar, warehouse, restaurant, gas station, motel and single-family house, recruits will be able to practice tactics used in bank robberies or hostage crises. A simulated chase can start in the driver’s training course and end as a hostage situation in the village.

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Skid pan: Recruits will learn to maneuver vehicles at low speeds on wet surfaces.

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Accident-avoidance training: Student drivers will approach a traffic signal with three green lights. As the vehicle approaches the signal, it trips a switch that changes two lights to red, requiring the driver to aggressively mvoe into the proper lane in three-quarters of a second.

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High-speed track: Trak replicates road features found in freeway and city driving. Recruits will be trained in simulated pursuits and variable-speed driving scenarios.

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Laser simulation room: Students will be trained to react to real-life situations by watching a projected scenario and deciding how to react to it. Recruits will be armed with a gun that fires a laser. A computer will be able to track when the hits occurred and where.

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Motorcycle training area: Prospective motorcycle officers will practice riding motorcycles on a packed dirt course.

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Skid-recovery course: Recruits will negotiate around cones on a wet surface while travelling 25 to 30 mph.

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Paint: Within the village, recruits will be armed with “simunitions,” plastic, paint-filled bullets designed to simulate the sound and smell of live ammunition.

Source: Sgt. Bill Dolan, LAPD; Researched by KARIMA A. HAYNES / Los Angeles Times