The Missouri Department of Public Safety this week awarded $50 million for the construction of the Gateway Regional Law Enforcement Training Center.
Leaders from St. Louis, Jefferson, St. Charles and Franklin counties gathered Thursday at the Missouri Department of Transportation’s Transportation Management Center in Chesterfield to celebrate the occasion. They said they’ve worked on the collaborative effort for years.
The police training facility will provide courses for new recruits and veteran officers, as well as virtual reality simulator rooms. It will also feature a gun range, an auditorium, classrooms, at least two gyms and a simulation area with a public mezzanine.
Lt. Col. Norman Mann, commanding officer of the Division of Operational Support at the St. Louis County Police Department, said the facility will be a game changer for recruitment efforts.
“This is a long time coming for us,” Mann said Thursday. “Truly a morale booster for our police officers and future police officers. People will come in and observe the type of training that we're putting on and actually have more of an interest to join the field.”
Departments with few training resources will also benefit, officials said Thursday. Training will be provided to officers across the region, beyond the four counties involved in creating the academy.
Officials said the state’s Public Safety Department is solely funding construction of the two-story building. Now that the grant has been awarded, the governing councils in each of the four counties will have to finalize and approve the legalities before construction can begin.
Mann said that after getting those approvals, they’ll have to hire a construction manager, identify a location for the training academy and purchase the site.
Initial plans for the project also included an 80-acre driving track, but land constraints suggest it may be built elsewhere. The $50 million will be used for property acquisition, architectural services and other construction plans.
Renderings are subject to change as they’re still in the infant stages, but Jefferson County Sheriff Dave Marshak said the facility will benefit the entire St. Louis region. He said experts from across the region will be brought in to train officers from all area departments, he said.
“What's unique about this facility is the opportunity for civilians and citizens alike to watch law enforcement training (and) see what kind of training that their law enforcement officers are participating in,” Marshak said. He said virtual reality training will also be offered, with officers learning how to de-escalate various situations.
“I think that's key for both the police officers and the people in the community which they serve,” he added.
