Police Academy Going to College (Point) by '09; Will Consolidate NYPD Classes, Road Drills And Gun Range

Police Academy Going to College (Point) by '09;
Will Consolidate NYPD Classes, Road Drills And Gun Range

By REUVEN BLAU

Mayor Bloomberg April 5 announced that the Queens Tow Pound site will be converted to serve as the new home of the Police Academy, replacing the dilapidated and cramped training center in Manhattan's Gramercy Park.

The Chief-Leader/Michael O'Kane FROM TOWING TO TRAINING: Mayor Bloomberg April 5 announced that the Queens Tow Pound will be the site of the new Police Academy complex, which will include a simulated subway station, indoor firing ranges, and 250 wireless classrooms. Looking on are Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, left, and Queens City Councilman Tony Avella. The new high-tech facility will include a simulated subway station, indoor firing ranges, and 250 wireless classrooms. The complex is projected to cost at least $1 billion and will be located in College Point - an industrial area near Shea Stadium. Construction is expected to begin late next year.

'All in One Place'

"The beauty of it is it's all going to be in one place," Mayor Bloomberg told reporters at the tow pound.

The current Police Academy, located on East 20th Street between Second and Third Aves., was built in 1964 to train hundreds of all-male recruits, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly noted. The NYPD has been looking for an expanded site to consolidate its training for more than a decade.

In order to handle the thousands of officers, instruction is now broken into day and night shifts, and includes classes on the weekends, Mr. Kelly said. The NYPD also had to split the men's locker room when women began joining the department in significant numbers, he added. It has been reported that many of the hallways are used as storage space and there are loose electrical wires all around.

The current facility can accommodate only 42 percent of the department's training needs, according to Deputy Mayor Edward Skyler, who led the search committee for a new site.

Operations Spread Out

The remainder of the training takes place at different sites throughout the city. The shooting range is in Rodman's Neck in The Bronx, and the Emergency Vehicle Operations Course is located at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn. In addition, officers jog along a pathway on the FDR Drive.

The old building will be sold, Mr. Bloomberg said, to help offset the cost of the new collegiate campus, which will include seven buildings and cover 30 acres.

The new center will consolidate all the instruction into one area, he stressed. The site was chosen over seven other possible locations because of several factors, including its accessibility via public transportation and nearby highways.

The projected facility - which will be located on a lot bounded by College Point Blvd., 28th Ave., 31st Ave., and Ulmer St. - is approximately a mile from the No. 7 Flushing-Main Street subway and Long Island Railroad station. Commuters can then take the Q65 and Q25 buses, which pass within one block of the site after about a 10-minute trip. The area is also near the Whitestone Expressway, and The Bronx is a close drive as well via the Whitestone Bridge.

'Won't Miss Tow Pound'

The site was also selected based on its likely probability of getting community approval. "The community will probably not miss a tow pound," said Mr. Bloomberg, noting that the city would have to find a new location for the lockup.

The other Queens locations considered were: Ridgewood Reservoir, Aqueduct Parcel, and Flushing Airport. The city also reviewed the Rossville Prison and the Seaview Hospital and Farm Colony in Staten Island, and a site at Oak Point in The Bronx.

The Department of Design and Construction will oversee the project, and the city expects to break ground on the new campus by the end of 2009, Mayor Bloomberg said. Before construction starts, the city has to complete the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, the city Environmental Quality Review, and design and construction procurement. The latter process is expected to take approximately 29 months.

The new campus will be designed to handle classes of 2,000 recruits at a time twice a year, Mr. Kelly said. The center will also have the capacity to address 5,000 students simultaneously, he remarked.

A Tactical Village

It will include a 115,000-square-foot tactical village that will contain a replica bank, bodega, and a subway platform and car to be used in various training programs.

Once completed, the city plans to charge other law-enforcement agencies to use the facility to train their officers as well. "When people around that world talk about a police department, the ultimate example is the NYPD and that is something we should share," Mr. Bloomberg said. "It's something the city really has of great value and we should be training others and charging them for it. I think there would be a big market for that."