Meridian to open new public safety training center

Public tours and a ribbon-cutting ceremony will take place Monday, Sept. 21 at 10:30 a.m. at the facility at 1223 E. Watertower Ave.

“This new facility will significantly improve the efficiencies in training our officers. We can now train on site and alongside our fire personnel, other agencies, even our public works crews. The combined trainings are hugely beneficial when preparing for tactical responses,” Meridian police Chief Jeff Lavey said.

The new training center features four classrooms, a defensive tactics mat room, simulators to create real situations for training, a K-9 agility course and a mobile command post.

“Meridian is ranked one of the safest cities in the state of Idaho and we want to keep it that way. This new facility helps us maintain the high level of safety our residents are accustomed to,” Mayor Tammy de Weerd said.

Public safety agencies throughout the area will also be able to use the facility for training.

This fall, the Ada County Highway District will install traffic lights to be used for traffic incident training.

The cost of the new facility, which included a remodel and an addition to the main police department building, was $5 million. The second phase of the training center includes construction of a scenario village through a partnership with the West Ada School District and the Ada Professional Technical Center. The cost and funding for phase two is yet to be determined.

This story was originally published September 14, 2015 at 9:20 AM with the headline "Meridian to open new public safety training center."