Eugene police soon will lose training facility.

Byline: Rebecca Nolan The Register-Guard

Eugene's police academy will shut down soon, thanks to a state law requiring all police recruits to train at a new 220-acre, $77.5 million statewide police academy being built outside Salem.

The academy will replace the one currently run by the Department of Public Safety Standards and Training in Monmouth and will expand its basic police training from 10 weeks to 16 weeks. It is expected to open in July 2006 and accept its first cadets in January 2007.

A provision in the law requires Eugene and Portland to close their academies and start sending recruits to the Salem facility, which also will provide training for corrections officers, firefighters, emergency dispatchers, and parole and probation officers.

Lawmakers wanted to guarantee a return on their investment in the facility, while ensuring consistency in the training and philosophy of police officers and sheriff's deputies throughout the state, Sen. Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene, said.

Portland is sending its recruits to Monmouth until the building is completed, but Eugene may try to graduate one more class from its facility at West Second Avenue and Chambers Street before the academy's opening ceremonies.

The upcoming loss saddens Eugene police officials, who consider the local academy a "crown jewel," Eugene Capt. Steve Swenson said. "It is seen as a kind of high water marker for police academies in Oregon. We're really proud of it, and rightly so."

Long waiting lists and other shortcomings at the Monmouth facility prompted Eugene to create its own academy, which graduated its first class in 1999.

The Eugene program included 21 weeks of instruction, on par with the national average of 18 to 22 weeks. The department tailored the curriculum to suit Eugene officers and used local experts as trainers, Swenson said. And the convenient location allowed local recruits to live at home, rather than move temporarily into the Monmouth dormitories.

The facility occasionally accepted recruits from other departments. "We're able to offer some classes in some depth that the Monmouth course isn't able to offer," Swenson said. "Monmouth meets the basic certification requirements. Eugene exceeds those requirements."

To make up for the difference, future Eugene recruits will complete additional officer training once they return from the state academy, Swenson said.

DPSST Deputy Director Eriks Gabliks said the new facility will be able to train more recruits more efficiently. He said the program will include improved instruction in the use of force, defensive tactics and driving skills.

The campus will include a driving course, a shooting range and a "city streets" area where recruits will practice multiple skills at once in a realistic setting. State trainers plan to meet with Eugene instructors in the coming weeks to see what they can copy from the local program, Gabliks said.

The change probably will save Eugene some money, although exactly how much is unclear.

The city has paid for the local academy out of its general fund, Swenson said. But because of the necessary post-academy training and ongoing in-service training for more experienced officers, there still will be some cost to the city.

There was some debate among lawmakers about whether to keep the single-academy model or opt for a system similar to that in California - a system that Prozanski said he favored.

Officer candidates in California receive their basic training through accredited programs at community colleges and apply to their desired agency with the bulk of their training already completed. Once hired, they go through a shorter acclimation period, thus saving police agencies the expense of paying their salaries while at the academy.

The California system would decrease the costs to smaller agencies who foot the bill for officer training only to have their new hires snapped up by larger departments before getting a return on the investment, Prozanski said. And it would have eliminated the need for an expensive new facility.

But the pull was toward working with the current system, he said.

"There was a circling of wagons among those in the old guard," Prozanski said. "They homed in on getting the product that we want under the model that we have."