City police shooting range plans advancing

CELINA - Police chief Tom Wale is proceeding with a plan to build a 300- to 350-yard firearms training range on 25 acres of city land south of the solar plant on Meyer Road.

"It's going to give us the facilities that we need in the long run as far as the longer ranges," Wale said. "It also gives us the ability to go out and practice into our qualifications on our schedule, on our time. Our officers will be able to go out and use the range and do their practicing without having to drive out of town to do it."

"Which will also lower overtime," mayor Jeff Hazel added.

Wale said officers spend an hour just driving to and from the New Bremen police range, a site "that leaves a lot to be desired" in range standards.

A potential cost-sharing project between the city and Mercer County governments, the range would allow officers from throughout the area to sharpen their marksmanship in all types of weather conditions, officials said. It also would protect the department from increased liability, provide a more flexible schedule and offer better training options not only for police officers but also Celina Fire Department and EMS personnel.

Wale said officer sidearms, .223-caliber patrol rifles and .308-caliber long-range rifles would be used at the range. The patrol rifles would be employed for medium-range uses such as shooting through heavy doors or body armor.

The .308-caliber long-range rifle could be used in a standoff situation. The department has one qualified marksman for that type of weapon, Wale said.

"Our collective goal is that the officers never have to draw their weapon, let alone use it. But if they do, I want them trained to a razor's edge so they know what they're doing, (that) they handle it professionally and accurately," Hazel told the newspaper.

After recently receiving the blessing of the city's safety service committee, Wale and city administrators are working alongside Access Engineering to create a detailed blueprint for the range.

After considering numerous options, councilors generally came to a consensus of fencing the entire 25-acre site and attaching it to the solar field fence at a cost of $42,000. Without a connection to the existing fence, the cost would jump to $52,000, according to Wale's estimates.

He estimated the project to cost $85,000 but said it could end up costing much less as that figure included $40,000 for digging a pond to provide dirt for a berm that was at least 26 feet high and 150 feet wide to meet federal requirements. Officials have secured a source of free dirt from the ongoing North Main Street project to build an earthen mound at the site.

"Which is going to be a significant amount of dirt, enough so that it will have an impact on lowering the cost, probably by a significant amount," Wale said.

Hazel agreed, saying the availability of dirt should shave off thousands of dollars from the cost.

"We need good clean dirt on the surface so we may have to dig a small pond to get clean dirt for the surface, but we won't know that until we're done with the fill dirt (from North Main Street and potentially other projects)," Wale said.

Council members are on board with the project but will be asked to approve a final design plan, probably in late summer or early fall, Hazel and city safety service director Tom Hitchcock concurred. Under that timeline, the project would at least be started if not be completed by the end of the year, Wale said.

"A lot depends on how much dirt we get for the mound because there's $50,000 in the budget currently that's been approved for the shooting range," Hitchcock pointed out. "If our dirt gets done and all we have to do is build a fence for $42,000, then we already have the money approved to do it."

"Upfront it was kind of more of a rough, schematic drawing. We tried to look at it about two or three different ways," Hazel explained. "We'll partner up with the sheriff's office on the county standpoint."

Initial plans also called for a structure.

"That would not necessarily be something built this year, but if we would do a classroom or something instructional, that would also be enough space within there to do that in the future," Hazel said.

The shooting range would not contain a Hogan's Alley - a tactical training ground featuring realistic targets and crime scenarios - as brought up by councilman June Scott at a recent meeting.

"That is a whole other monster," Wale said. "It would probably add another zero onto the cost because to do a Hogan's Alley right, you're building a small town."

Wale said county commissioners are receptive to helping out financially but want to see a formal topographical map and cost estimates.

"We may put a divider in the middle of that for short ranges so we can shoot different guns up close at the same time," Wale said.

"It's a good facility that's going to be available to all law enforcement in Mercer County," Wale said. He added, though, that the city would own the shooting range and maintain top scheduling priority.

Officials are confident that the location would pose neither a danger nor a noise disturbance to surrounding property owners.

"We've got the mound. We've got the distance. We've got two woods to get through before you get to the nearest structure down range," Wale said when asked about safety concerns.

The firing of weapons likely wouldn't cause a noise disturbance either, Wale said, likening the blasts to a hammer pounding inside a building.

"We spoke with the nearest neighbors on Sunset Drive. (They're) not the least bit concerned about it," he said. "We had an officer down there shooting. We were asking about the sound and (they) said Jacksons Garage made more noise than our shooting range."

Some people living near the site were relieved when told the shooting would be directed to the west away from town, Hazel said.