Nassau County officials on Wednesday announced plans to construct a new training and intelligence-gathering center for the Nassau County Police Department on the campus of Nassau Community College in Garden City.
The new 12,000 square-foot facility would replace the current police academy in Massapequa Park, housed at the former Hawthorne Elementary School.
Officials said construction is expected to begin this fall for completion by 2017.
The project is estimated to cost $40 million, with $10 million taken from capital funding and the remaining $30 million from donations to the non-profit Nassau County Police Foundation and from asset forfeiture funds from the police department, officials said.
“Nassau is the safest large suburban county in the nation and we intend to keep it that way,” Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano said in a statement.
“With this step,” Mangano said, “we move police training from outdated facilities to a modern venue that advances our nationally acclaimed intelligence-led policing models.”
The facility was announced during a news conference Wednesday with Mangano, acting Nassau County Police Commissioner Thomas Krumpter and Nassau County Police Foundation Chairman Eric Blumencranz.
“Our current facility was built and designed as a grammar school, not a police academy,” Krumpter said in a statement. “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 training to our members.”
The new facility would house the police department’s training academy, Asset Forfeiture and Intelligence Bureau and Emergency Vehicle Operations Course as well as a tactical village that officials said would be used for scenario-based training like drug raids and hostage situations.
In addition, the center would include classrooms, a lecture hall and auditorium and would be used for ceremonies, conferences and to house first responders from state, federal and local agencies during emergencies, officials said.
“We are proud to be a part of this important project that will provide our law enforcement officers with a state-of-the-art training facility,” Blumencranz said in a statement. “The NCPD is one of the best police departments in the country and this facility will allow them to train for 21st century policing threats which will continue to make Nassau County one of the safest places to live.”
