Roanoke County will share space with Roanoke City at the city’s police training center once an 8300 square foot addition is built. The three million dollar addition, to be constructed by the same Harrisonburg firm that built the Western Virginia Regional Jail, is expected to be done by January 2015.
Most of the funds came out of an asset forfeiture account, money seized by the police department following arrests, typically with issues involving the distribution of drugs.
Law enforcement leaders from both localities gathered for a groundbreaking ceremony last week, along with members of Roanoke City Council and Charlotte Moore from the county Board of Supervisors. Also on hand were representatives from the county sheriff’s department and the Regional Jail, which will also use the training facility. The county now trains recruits and officers at the Public Safety Center on Cove Road, but space is tight.
The enlarged training facility just off Peters Creek Road in Roanoke City (near the airport) will also allow for joint training between the two localities. That makes perfect sense according to the people in charge of training for each jurisdiction, since city and county officers often wind up working together when a case or suspect crosses boundaries.
Roanoke Mayor David Bowers, as he often does, focused on the regional cooperation aspect of the training facility merger. “We not only talk about regional cooperation as we have done for 20 years or more – we’re actually doing it. This…is the latest example.” Bowers pointed to past regional efforts like the Western Virginia Water Authority, a joint Fire-EMS academy, communications systems and landfill (Resource Authority.)
Bowers said broadband services now being considered will also be a cooperative effort. “In this day and time when the budgets get tighter and the resources get more limited our citizens are demanding that we work together – and we’re doing that.”
Roanoke County police chief Howard B. Hall said the move will provide a sound structure and permanent home for the Roanoke County Criminal Justice Academy, “which we have not had since the academy was founded in 2007.” Hall, who came to Roanoke County from Baltimore several years ago, said the Public Safety Center wasn’t designed to also be a training academy for law enforcement.
“It’s going to allow us to be more efficient with the limited resources that we do have for training, by being able to combine our training staffs and our equipment.” The first step is combining mandatory training classes that new officers receive. That will happen this June – seven months before the facility addition is slated for completion. Having county officers working from their first day with their city counterparts “really sets them up well throughout their careers. That’s going to pay big dividends…on significant crimes.”
Lt. Mike Williams runs the county criminal justice academy as its director. He’s looking forward to more classroom space and additional resources for training. The Public Safety Center “was not designed as a training facility. Working with the city academy [where] they have additional space,” is something Williams sees as an asset.
His counterpart in the city, academy director Lt. Barry Booth, said the sharing of curriculum and instructors will result “in a lot better training, being regional [in scope]. It’s bringing in a lot of additional resources for us.” Since both jurisdictions border each other anyway, Booth said, “we’ll know how each other operates. It’s going to make it more effective in fighting crime – and taking care of the community.”
By Gene Marrano
