Margaret Kates
al.com
(TNS)
The city of Mobile is looking to build a brand-new public safety training complex for firefighters and police officers, replacing the aging facilities it currently uses to train people who work in public safety.
“I foresee this opportunity for the city to build this facility, and what we can provide for the city as a whole,” said the city’s executive director of public safety Lawrence Battiste. “We do so much for the region, we are the ‘beacon on a hill’ for public safety in the region.”
On Tuesday, the Mobile City Council will vote on whether to approve a roughly $997,000 contract with Goodwyn Mills Cawood, an architecture firm, for the design of a “state-of-the-art joint training facility that combines resources from Mobile’s Police, Fire-Rescue and Emergency Services Departments,” according to the contract. The site is set to be roughly eight to 10 acres and the facility is supposed to be roughly 21,126 square feet. The cost of building the training site is supposed to be roughly $13.5 million.
Where the training facility will be has not been determined. It’s also not clear when the facility would be completed. Battiste said once the design is completed (12 weeks from when the contract is authorized), the search for a location will begin in earnest. According to the contract, construction on the facility must be completed within 15 months of breaking ground.
Battiste says that the facility is a more efficient way to train police officers and firefighters, who will share the facility equally. While each group has its own training, there are several elements that overlap, he says, and having the two combine forces will help streamline training.
“While police and fire have operated independently of each other, there are training elements of both that overlap,” Battiste said. “Creating a state-of-the-art training facility that combines the best of what the police and fire have to offer.”
Having up-to-date facilities and top-notch training is critically important, Battiste says, because the city of Mobile doesn’t just train its own officers: police officers and firefighters from around the region receive training in Mobile. Many smaller municipalities that don’t have the infrastructure to support police and fire academies send recruits to Mobile for training.
“It’s important that we have a facility that puts Mobile in the best light, not just for our city but for these adjacent communities,” Battiste said. “To be the best, you have to build the best.”
In addition, for the city of Mobile itself, having nice facilities is important for attracting talent to the police and fire departments, Battiste says. Mobile’s police department has struggled with retaining officers in the last two years. Last spring, the city of Mobile offered a pay incentive to police officers, after the city lost 111 officers in 12 months.
And as the city of Mobile hopes to grow, by annexing territory west of the city or by other means, having strong police and fire departments will be crucial to that goal, Battiste says.
Battiste says that the city hasn’t reached out to the community for input on the facility, as it was more focused on identifying its needs to update the infrastructure. But he says, in his experience, the public has generally been supportive of the city’s first responders and of allocating those departments the resources they need.
In recent years, new facilities for police have become a flashpoint, particularly with the rise of the “Defund the Police” movement in 2020. In Chicago, a new, $128 million police and fire training facility opened this week after years of pushback from activists, who wanted the city to spend the money on social services and housing to hel