Law Enforcement Training Center at MTC

By Adaure Achumba | Manatee County

The $7 million, 70-acre facility located in Myakka City features a 300 X 600-foot driving pad, obstacle courses, and a full range of training amenities.

MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. — After years of planning, and a six-month delay due to recent hurricanes, Manatee County’s new law enforcement training center has officially opened. Local leaders say the facility will improve and enhance officers’ skills and training as well as boost public safety.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Manatee Technical College / City of Bradenton Law Enforcement Training Center brought together community leaders and law enforcement officials on Tuesday morning.

The new center provides officers and recruits access to advanced outdoor training and simulations to better prepare them for real-world situations and challenges.

“I learned that having two hands on the steering gives you better control about how to maneuver being on the streets,” Donvil White, a recent Bradenton police recruit, said.

White is one of two recruits sponsored by the department and graduated from the law enforcement academy in January.

Recruits like White are chosen by BPD to attend the academy for the six-month course tuition-free while earning salary and benefits. Once the sponsored recruits complete the program, they are sworn in as Bradenton Police Department officers.

Officer White was sworn in by BPD last week and is set to begin his field training program at the center. He described the logistical challenges he and his classmates experienced during their recruit training process in the most recent academy program.

“We had to drive to St. Pete and Sarasota to go to the driving pad and the shooting range,” White said.

That inconvenience has now been resolved with a $7 million, 70-acre facility located in Myakka City. The facility features a 300X600-foot driving pad, obstacle courses and a full range of training amenities.

“We have a rifle range, handgun range, a shoot house that can be used for anything from de-escalation training to all kinds of scenario-based training. We’ve got classroom space. We have it all,” Chief Melanie Bevan of the Bradenton Police Department said.

“There’s a difference in an indoor range where people go in and they buy a weapon and they want to go out on the range and see if it works and learn how to use it, as opposed to tactical law-enforcement training where you have to actually be able to use cover, all those things that are realistic to your job and what you would have to do,” Jay Romine, the director of the Law Enforcement Academy at Manatee Technical College, said.

“We have here now with a 50-yard pistol range and the 200-yard rifle range that we have never had available to us before now,” Romine added.

Through the MTC Law Enforcement Program, the center will be able to help train up to 70 recruits annually, benefiting not just local law enforcement but the entire community.

“It’s so important now that we are putting out the most highly qualified and best-trained officers that we can and that’s what this facility will give us an opportunity to do,” he said.

“This goes back 17 or 18 years that we’ve been trying to get this accomplished and without the support of everybody, and everybody being involved in this combined effort, the school board, the city Of Bradenton, the Manatee Law-enforcement Training Center. It just wasn’t going to happen,” he added.

While the facility does come with maintenance costs, Bevan emphasized the long-term value of the investment.

“Before we had to send folks out of the area even from the police academy standpoint at a pretty high cost, not only for travel, but even just to rent the facilities needed to provide basic training. Even for the Bradenton Police Department, we had to go to a place like ‘Shoot Straight’ to do our basic firearms training, now we have something right here that can provide that,” she said.

“Granted we have upkeep. We have the bills that go with a facility like this, but truly what it brings to us in cost savings, the professionalism, the training, you can’t put a price tag on that,” Bevan added.

By the end of the ribbon-cutting ceremony, SWAT officers were already utilizing the shooting range. The first recruit class will begin driving pad training by late March, while the simulated shooting house is expected to be completed at a later date.

Facility amenities:

50-yard Outdoor Pistol Range
200-yard Outdoor Rifle Range
Observation Towers & Covered Bleachers
300′ x 600′ Driving Pad
Classroom Building (w/ Range Master’s Office, Kitchen, Armory, Restrooms/Showers)
Firearms Cleaning Station
1,000 sq. ft. Shoot House
Exterior Equipment Storage
Retention, Drainage & Erosion Control
Drive & Parking

Source: < https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/local/manateecounty/law-enforcement-training-manatee-county/67-bf1c7d60-c94d-498e-825a-67e5d326c184 >