Mangano Unveils Plans for New State-of-the-Art Law Enforcement Center for Training & Intelligence

SMITHTOWN, N.Y. - Feb. 23, 2015 - PRLog -- Nassau County Executive Edward P. Mangano, Acting Police Commissioner Tom Krumpter and the Nassau County Police Foundation today announced plans to construct a new, state-of-the-art Nassau County Police Department Center for Training and Intelligence on the grounds of Nassau Community College.

“Nassau is the safest large suburban County in the nation and we intend to keep it that way,” said County Executive Mangano.  “My administration, via a partnership with the Police Foundation, will construct a new, state-of-the-art center for training local law enforcement.  With this step, we move police training from out-dated facilities to a modern venue that advances our nationally acclaimed intelligence-led policing models.”

The Center for Training and Intelligence includes a new Police Training Academy, Asset Forfeiture and Intelligence Bureau, an Emergency Vehicle Operations Course and a tactical village that allows for scenario-based training, such as simulated drug raids and hostage barricade situations.  The Center will serve as a redundancy center for the NCPD’s Communications Bureau and as emergency responder housing for Federal, State, and local first responders during emergencies.  The Center will include modern classrooms, a lecture hall and auditorium that can be used for large-scale training, ceremonies, national conferences, and private sector functions, as well as a dedicated Physical Training and Defensive Tactics Area that will properly prepare recruits for the rigors of police work.

Due to its proximity, the facility will create significant synergies with the Community College and provide an opportunity to generate revenue for taxpayers by hosting national police conferences and as a site for filming by Nassau’s growing movie and television production industry.

Nassau County recently issued a Request-for-Proposals seeking design services for the Center.  Construction of the approximate 120,000 square foot facility is expected to begin in the fall of 2015 and be completed in 2017.  The Center will replace the current Police Academy, which has been housed since 2006 at the former Hawthorne Elementary School in Massapequa Park.  Prior to that, the Academy was located in trailer-style modular buildings at the Nassau County Correctional Center in East Meadow and at the Cross Street School in Williston Park.  Nassau County currently spends approximately $700,000 in rent to lease the Hawthorne School for its Police Academy and will thereby save taxpayer funds over the life of the new facility.

“Our current facility was built and designed as a grammar school, not a Police Academy,” said Acting Commissioner Krumpter. “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 police training to our members.”

The cost of the project is estimated at $40 million, with $10 million in Capital funding and the remaining $30 million from private donations to the Nassau County Police Foundation, a 501(c)(3) Not-For Profit corporation, as well as through the Nassau County Police Department Asset Forfeiture funds.

“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,” said Eric Blumencranz, Chairman of the NCPD Foundation. “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.”

Nassau County plans to begin construction later this year on a new $40 million police academy training center in Garden City, the department's first county-owned training and intelligence facility in its 90-year history, officials said.

The county and the Nassau County Police Department Foundation, a nonprofit group, issued an RFP, or request for proposals, on Feb. 3 for architectural and engineering services for the facility's design. Bidding closes Wednesday.

The approximately 100,000- square-foot center -- the first and largest phase of the project -- is to be on the grounds of Nassau Community College and will be built with a combination of public and private funding: about $10 million in county capital funding, $25 million in asset forfeiture monies and about $5 million in donations raised by the foundation.

County Executive Edward Mangano hailed the "state-of-the art" project, which will also serve as a regional training hub for the county's 17 village and two city departments, house Nassau's police intelligence unit and eventually include a streetscape village to allow for simulation of drug raids and hostage barricade situations.

"With this step, we move police training from outdated facilities to a modern venue that advances our nationally acclaimed intelligence-led policing models," Mangano said Tuesday in a statement to Newsday.

Officials hope to have the design finalized by August, break ground by November or December and complete construction in 24 months, Acting Police Commissioner Thomas Krumpter said in an interview Tuesday.

The entire project -- including the academy building, a warehouse and a track for defensive driving instruction -- was first envisioned by former Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey about six years ago and began with the formation of the foundation as a fundraising arm for the project. It will be located on about 10 acres and Krumpter said the college's criminal justice program will use the facility.

In a statement, Jorge L. Gardyn, president of the college's board of trustees, said the school is "delighted to see this project proceed. We are certain that this facility will mutually benefit both NCC and Nassau County as a whole."

Krumpter said the facilities will also house the backup for the county's 911 system, serve as shelter for first responders and could be available for movie and television filming. "The idea here is to build a space we're going to maximize the use of," Krumpter said.

The county's current police academy, housed at a 1950s-era school building in Massapequa Park, is leased from the school district at an annual cost of more than $700,000, Krumpter said. "It's busting at the seams," he said .

The county legislature approved distribution of $16 million in capital funding over three years for the project. The county funds "will only be spent after asset dollars are utilized," said Mangano's spokesman, Brian Nevin. Asset forfeiture funds are proceeds of criminal activity seized by police agencies.

Krumpter said the department has had "a lot of dialogue and conversation" with federal Department of Justice officials, who oversee the strict guidelines attached to the spending and said he's "very confident" it will be approved.

"There is no reason to believe we won't receive approval," Krumpter said.