Law enforcement centers in Dakota and Washington counties have been given the green light — getting a total of $17 million in funding from the state in this year’s bonding bill.
The SMART Center in Inver Grove Heights and the HERO Center in Cottage Grove will offer modern training for modern crimes — involving people in crisis, updated weaponry, cellphones and the internet.
Work on both projects is expected to start this year and to be finished by 2020. Both will train police, sheriff’s deputies, firefighters and emergency medical technicians.
The need for training is urgent, said Dakota County Sheriff Tim Leslie.
He said the SMART Center will help officers identify why a person is behaving dangerously. Most officers know how to deal with a bank robber — but how about a naked psychopath threatening his ex-wife with a machete in a locked bathroom?
“We are facing challenges of people in crisis, and we want to be ready for those challenges,” said Leslie.
In the SMART Center, officers will gather in rooms resembling bars, bedrooms or living rooms. They will watch professional actors playing the parts of people in crisis.
The officers will practice observing what the problem is — mental illness, opioids, alcohol, methamphetamines, a temper tantrum — and defusing the crisis.
The training will be managed by Minnesota Crisis Intervention Team, a nonprofit that trains officers to deal with mental health crises.
Leslie said the center will be the only one like it in the state.
The SMART Center — the Safety and Mental Health Alternative Response Training Center — will cost $13 million. It will be operated by Dakota County, which split the costs with the state.
The 35,000-square-foot center will be built in Inver Grove Heights, at a location yet to be determined.
In addition, the SMART Center will house the county’s electronic-crimes unit, specializing in crimes involving cellphones and other electronic devices.
Leslie said cellphones can yield useful clues such as its location during a crime, call history or messages and photos.
Technology is advancing quickly, and police must learn to adapt. “Cellphones are not a fad,” said Leslie.
COTTAGE GROVE TO HOST HERO CENTER
The $20 million facility in Washington County will be called the HERO Center — Health and Emergency Response Occupations Center.
It will be operated by Cottage Grove and Woodbury on a 9-acre site next to Cottage Grove City Hall on Ravine Parkway.
The state is paying about $9.5 million of the cost, and the two cities are splitting the difference.
Most other Twin Cities police training centers are in Hennepin and Scott counties — an inconvenience for officers in the east metro.
“The training we do now is in someone else’s public areas,” said Cottage Grove Police Capt. Greg Rinzel. “We can’t train when we need to.”
For example, officers must find a privately owned home in a residential area to practice building searches or handling domestic conflicts.
Rinzel said that officers practice their shooting at a private gun range in Afton. But they can’t use it when people are in the nearby apple orchard, or when other groups have reserved the range.
The outdoor firing ranges in the metro have drawn complaints from neighbors about the gunfire noise. But the ranges are essential for training with modern weapons — some of them quite loud.
The HERO range would be open to the public at certain times, for use by high school trapshooting teams, gun clubs and individuals. It would host gun-safety training for hunters, taught by the state Department of Natural Resources.
The 41,000-square-foot center will also have a canine training yard. The center is considered regional, because about 10 law enforcement agencies would use it.
The HERO Center is a necessity in quickly growing suburbs, said Rinzel. “As we grow, the opportunity to do training in the area evaporates,” he said.