Chief takes aim at shooting range

CELINA - Police chief Tom Wale wants to build a 300-yard firearms training range on 25 acres of city land south of the solar plant on Meyer Road.

Wale pitched the idea to city council members during Monday night's safety services committee meeting. Councilors also heard an alternative proposal from Milt Miller, president of the Mercer County Sportsmen's Association. Officials there are redesigning the shooting ranges at the club on State Route 703 between Celina and St. Marys, and Miller believes it could accommodate law enforcement shooting training.

Committee members didn't decide on either proposal. They will discuss the matter further at a future commitee meeting.
  The facility, Wale said, would protect the department from increased liability, provide a more flexible schedule and offer better training options not only for police officers but also the Celina Fire Department and EMS.

Wale's preliminary figures show costs of $40,000 for digging a pond to provide sufficient dirt to build at least a 26-foot-high berm to meet federal requirements and $80,000 to fence in the facility, a requirement of the city's insurance provider, city service director Tom Hitchcock said.

Wale said $50,000 in the police capital savings account, derived from the half-percent income tax, has been earmarked for the project.

The department had been using the Sportsmen's Association range, with city officials proving in-kind dirt work in exchange for free training there, Wale said. Once range improvements began, police officers moved their training to the New Bremen police range.

The New Bremen site "leaves a lot to be desired" in regard to range standards, Wale told the newspaper.

A city training facility would allow officers to train at longer distances, improving their marksmanship, Wale said. Also, the range would accommodate practice shooting with heavy, .50-caliber weapons, if the department goes that route in the future.

Also, officers could engage in night shoots at the facility, which also would be opened up for K-9 training with neighboring counties, involving drug searches, people tracking and water training. Firefighters and EMS also could participate by conducting dive training in the pond.

"If we built the range we would most likely have to dig a pond to get the dirt," Wale said. "So the pond would give us the ability to train the dogs in the water. We used to do that in the pool, but when you get six or eight dogs in the pool, it runs a lot of hair through the filtration."

Mercer County Sheriff Jeff Grey and Coldwater Police Chief Jason Miller both have expressed interest in using a city-owned training facility, Wale pointed out. The city could share the cost of building the facility with the two entities by charging them up front, entering into yearly rental agreements or in-kind work, Wale suggested.

"The chief told me that their mayor was very interested in helping out building this range," Wale said, adding village officials indicated they'd be willing to haul in dirt at their own cost.

The sheriff's office, Wale said, may be able to tap into a concealed-carry account designated for training to help with the costs.

After finishing his presentation, Miller stepped up to the podium and said the Sportsmen's Association has embarked on a $150,000 project to revamp the pistol/rifle range that could be used for local law enforcement training.

"We're really, really, really confident that once completed it will be state of the art and in all probability nothing will leave our range," Miller said.

The association, Miller said, would be receptive to a "front-end loaded lease agreement," but pointed out the club wouldn't be able to offer other training options as outlined by Wale.

"We're not here in competition with the chief," Miller stressed, adding he was merely providing an alternative for city officials to consider if Wale's proposal doesn't work. "His proposal is cool as the dickens."

After the meeting, Wale told the newspaper that it's council's place to ponder the wisdom of entering a front-loaded lease agreement and look at related legalities.

"His range would get us through our immediate needs but when (Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy) changes the standards, it won't meet our needs anymore," he said. "So I hesitate to invest money there when we're going to have to do this eventually anyway."