GARDEN CITY, NY – Nassau County Executive Laura Curran and Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder officially broke ground today on the Nassau County Training and Intelligence Center in Garden City. Nassau County Police Department, the 13th largest police department in the country, has not had its own training facility in over 37 years. Since 1982, the NCPD has been shuttled around the county to various vacant spaces for training. For the ceremony, the County Executive and Police Commissioner were joined by:
- District Attorney Madeline Singas
- Congressman Peter King
- Members of the Nassau County Legislature
- County Sheriff Vera Fludd
- Former Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey
- President of the Long Island Federation of Labor John R. Durso
- Detectives Association President John Wighaus
- Superior Officers Association President Kevin Black
- Correction Officers Benevolent Association President Brian Sullivan
- Civil Service Employees Association Vice President Ron Gurrieri
- Police Foundation Chairman Eric Blumencranz
- Associated Local Municipal Chiefs
- Representatives from E&A Construction
- Representatives from Spector Group
- Representatives from Nassau Community College
The new facility will usher in a new era in police, correction officer and probation officer training and community engagement. 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 new Academy will replace the current Academy located in the old Hawthorne Elementary school in Massapequa Park, which the department currently pays $700,000 rent annually.
The new 89,000-square-foot facility will be located on the campus of Nassau Community College in Garden City. Main components of the new, modernized training center include:
- Asset Forfeiture and Intelligence Lead Development Center
- 500-seat Auditorium
- Fitness Center
- Emergency Vehicle Operations Course
- Physical Training and Defensive Tactics Warehouse
- 10 multi-purpose classrooms that can be combined to 5-large 70-person rooms for training
- SCIF 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 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.”
Pushing this project forward, earlier this year, the Nassau County Legislature unanimously approved the comprehensive capital budget and bonding needed to complete the facility. The project is expected to cost $54 million in bonds for both the construction and project management and generate quality local construction jobs.
Furthering the County Executive’s transparency and accountability efforts in all aspects of government operations, the County is retaining the services of an Integrity Monitor to assist the County 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 departments quest for excellence,” said Commissioner 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 interagency 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.”
“This cutting-edge facility will help ensure that Nassau continues to have the best-trained and most effective police force to keep crime at record lows,” said District Attorney Singas. “The Nassau County Training and Intelligence Center will serve as a vital resource to our entire law enforcement community to ensure that our police training, intelligence, and counterterrorism experts have access to the best technology, tools and high-tech data analytics resources to proactively address the threats facing our region now and in the future.”
“Today's groundbreaking ceremony illustrates Nassau County's commitment to equipping our police officers with the knowledge, resources and training they need,” said Minority Leader Kevan Abrahams. “Our investment in this state-of-the-art police academy will enhance our ability to keep our communities safe and preserve the quality of life for residents across the County for years to come."
"Our Nassau County Police Officers are already some of the most highly trained and skilled cops in the nation. The creation of this state-of-the-art facility will allow officers to continue to build on their skills and give them the knowledge and training they need to continue to keep our communities safe,” said Presiding Officer Richard Nicolello. “I look forward to seeing the project through to completion."
“The Nassau County Police Department Academy Training facility groundbreaking is a welcome development to the taxpayers of Nassau County, the members of the police department, as well as the working men and women of the Nassau-Suffolk Building Trades Council,” said President of the Long Island Federation of Labor John R. Durso.
“I am pleased to stand with Nassau County Executive Laura Curran and the many public officials, to support our professionals in law enforcement. Without the dedication of the Legislature, construction of the training facility would not have been possible and now these leaders are committed to making a major investment in public safety for every neighborhood,” said President of the Building Trades Council Matthew Aracich. “Today we will experience what good government really is as the Police Department realizes that the construction phase of the new Public Safety Training Academy is finally within reach. Remember, it's not the beauty of a building you should look at; it's the construction of its foundation that will stand the test of time.”
“When the Nassau County Police Department Foundation was created eleven years ago it was our goal to ensure that the men and women of the NCPD have a proper academy to train for 21st century policing. I couldn’t be happier that we were able to play such a large role in making this vision became a reality,” said NCPD Foundation Chairman Eric Blumencranz.
The new facility will provide ample benefits, including:
- Recruitment: being located on the College campus automatically facilitates recruitment to the diverse group of students that attend.
- This Academy will provide the NCPD, Sheriff’s Department and Probation Office with a facility to properly train its officers in the most current law enforcement methods.
- Ensuring Nassau County’s police force is even more highly trained, efficient and effective to better protect and assist the companies that conduct business in the area and the families who reside here, helping increase the value and safety of Nassau County commercial and residential properties.
- The NCPD can utilize new technology and implement a state-of-the-art Real Time Intelligence Center that will integrate current technology, intelligence gathering tools and create the most effective and efficient Police Department that will continue to provide the safest community for its residents.
- Its centralized location will provide easy access to Nassau’s eighteen village and city police departments situated throughout Nassau County, as well to New York City and Suffolk County.
- It will allow the NCPD to further their relationships with the Law Enforcement Community in a facility that will involve joint training for law enforcement organizations – including but not limited to the FBI, DEA, IRS, USSS and ATF.
- Finally, it will provide a conference room and auditorium to educate the law enforcement community, and partner with the academic institutions, private sector and public events for community engagement.
The Nassau County Police Department (NCPD) Foundation was formed in 2008 to assist the building of this critical facility through public and private sector donations. Since 2008, the NCPD Foundation donated services valued at $3.9 million dollars to fund this facility. These monies were spent on the architectural design of the facility which constituted the hiring of a specialized firm that specifically designs tactical training facilities. Further, the NCPD Foundation donated the environmental review of the site and all the site and legal work necessary to make sure it was adequate.
In 2009, a memorandum of understanding was signed with the County and Nassau Community College (NCC) to build a state-of-the-art training facility on this vacant southeast corner of NCC. The NCC Board of Trustees are pleased with having the NCPD’s academy on their campus and hope to partner with the Police Department to make criminal justice a premier program.
