Nassau County Breaks Ground On New Police Training Center

On Wednesday, Nassau County broke ground on the new police Training and Intelligence Center in Garden City. The Nassau County Police Department, which is the 13th-largest department in the country, has not had its own training facility in 37 years.

Many representatives from county government and the police department were on hand for the groundbreaking. Since 1982, the police department has been using various facilities across the county to conduct training. They are currently using the old Hawthorne Elementary School in Massapequa Park, which costs the county $700,000 in rent annually.

The new facility will usher in a new era in police, correction officer and probation officer training and community engagement, the county says. It will serve as a model for shared services and may provide working space with other departments in the region. The new permanent location will be a modern academic and physical training facility as well as house the intelligence/ counterterrorism specialized unit.

The 89,000-square-foot facility will be located on the campus of Nassau Community College in Garden City. The new, modernized training center includes:

• Asset Forfeiture and Intelligence Lead Development Center
• A 500-seat auditorium
• Fitness center
• Emergency vehicle operations course
• Physical training and defensive tactics warehouse
• 10 multi-purpose classrooms that can be combined to five large, 70-person rooms for training
• A Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility to process classified information (the only one on Long Island)

“From my very first day as county executive, I have been pushing to get this academy built. Since 1982, the brave men and women of our police department have been shuffled through temporary facilities instead of working out of a real police academy and breaking the bank for our taxpayers,” said County Executive Laura Curran. “Today, I am proud to stand with Commissioner Ryder to break ground on a state-of-the-art facility worthy of the men and women in our law enforcement, one which will greatly serve our police, corrections and probation officers – future and present – as well as the communities they protect.”

The project is expected to cost $54 million in bonds for both the construction and project management, and will generate many local construction jobs. To keep the building process transparent, the county is retaining the services of an integrity monitor to assist in monitoring the construction contractor E&A Construction Inc. and subcontractors throughout the entirety of the project. Construction is slated to begin in the coming weeks and be completed by mid-2021.

"Today is a historic day for the Nassau County Police Department and the residents of Nassau County. For too many years, the members of our department endured makeshift, inadequate training facilities in the department's quest for excellence,” said Commissioner Patrick Ryder. “Soon we will have a state-of-the-art training facility and intelligence center that will focus on providing the best available training and technology to both sworn and civilian members of not only our department, but to all law enforcement associated agencies. The Intelligence Center with focus on inter-agency cooperation and information sharing with our local, state and federal partners. Our residents will also greatly benefit from this centrally located facility since it will encourage our residents to attend the many community events that will be held at this new facility.”