Hoover Breaks Ground On New Police Training Center

HOOVER, AL - City and police officials in Hoover broke ground this week on the Hoover Police Department's $4.5 million training facility. The 16,000-square-foot facility, expected to open at the beginning of 2020, will be located next to Hoover fire station No. 4 on Municipal Drive.

The new facility will include an advanced firearms training simulator, defensive tactics training room, classroom space and storage space for specialty police vehicles such as the incident command center and armored rescue vehicle, according to a Hoover Sun report.

The new facility will be the first one in the city dedicated strictly for training purposes. Police had been using the gym at the former Berry Middle School on Columbiana Road for defensive tactics training but had to find other space since the school board sold that school to the Vestavia Hills Board of Education.

The facility is being named after Frank and Pam Barefield. Barefield, chairman of the board for Crime Stoppers of Metro Alabama, has been a longtime supporter of the Hoover Police Department and is contributing $250,000 toward the training center.

"Every administration before mine, that was extremely important," said Hoover mayor Frank Brocato. "That tradition of that support is carried on all the way through this administration as well. We’re proud to have this new training facility. It will really be state of the art for our police officers, who we want to have the best training around."