(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
The old Kenosha Fire Department located at the southeast corner of 22nd Ave and Washington Rd. has been repurposed to enhance the Kenosha Police Department’s training. The old dilapidated station was rehabbed and turned into a building dedicated to one thing – training the best police officers around.
KCE and other local media outlets were invited to tour the facility Wednesday morning. Made possible by community partners, there was great cost associated with the new center, including a state-of-the-art Virtual Reality training simulator.
Among the sponsors:
Niagra Bottling
Lee Mechanical
Ruffolo’s Salon
Home Heating and Cooling
and St. Mary’s Lutheran Church
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
Kenosha Police Chief Pat Patton stressed the need for a strong training program and was thankful to City leaders for passing a budget that allowed him to expand the training. “The public is demanding better training and I want to deliver on that,” said Patton.
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
Patton says that ideally, the City will eventually have a newer building that is designed just for training. “This building was built and designed for the fire department,” he told the media Wednesday. Patton and his training division, headed by Captain Dilhoff, Sgt. Handcock, and Officer Tetrick seem to be making the best of what they have. KCE saw leaky pipes and a plumber arrived while we were touring the facility to fix some pipes burst by the weather.
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
The second floor, that used to be a bunk house, has a “mat room” where officers can safely train in hand-to-hand skills and other physical tactics. It also has a new virtual reality training simulator. Officers can be introduced into an array of scenarios that the operator can custom taylor based on the officer’s actions.
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
TMJ4 News Reporter Jeff Zampanti gave the VR simulator a go. He was in a tavern with two subjects that were armed with knives. One attacked Zampanti, but Zampanti was able to neutralize the threat – not before being stabbed.
With the advances in training, the Kenosha Police Department hopes to strongly align with its new core values – R.I.S.E. Respect, Integrity, Service, and Excellence.
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
16 Responses
This is fantastic news. Uptown is the perfect place for a KPD training facility. Kudos to the KPD & all the business sponsors. Thank you to everyone involved!
Actually, this is in Washington Park; the former Fire Station 3 is Uptown. I’ve seen KPD squads parked there as well.
Now if the general public could be trained to act more civilized, Kenosha might be tolerable
The most important training need of Kenosha police officers is ethics training. They need to be taught to tell the truth when they write reports and testify under oath. The culture needs to change to eliminate the peer pressure to lie and plant evidence. One of the “new” core values is the word “integrity” in the R. I. S. E. Please make sure this actually means something.
Kenosha politicians need ethics training the most.
Bunch of government goons.
Biggest thing they need to be taught is THE CONSTITUTION & how to be less egotistical.
We can ever stand still I love the fact this is available, my question is-is it mandatory a on a regular basis for each officer.
We can ever stand still I love the fact this is available, my question is-is it mandatory a on a regular basis for each officer.
Yes. Regular training is required. Even for the Chief
A good move, costly but worth it to the community and the officers going forward.
yes ,they deal with disrespectful scumbags every day
A must ! Repurpose Fire station in uptown as a satellite police station. Where bike and foot patrols could have easy access to a troubled neighborhood and for the department to become a part of the neighborhood.
As for training- I believe the core of this training program should be based onTao Jujitsu (the arresting art ) which allows the officer to be in control of a situation without resorting to weapons early in the confrontation.
Why do not all officers have bullet proof vests? They are back ordered 6 months.
Source?
Can someone shed light on why this is needed for training, when as taxpayers we support a techincal college that houses a police academy? Duplicative expense? I fully support LE, and glad to see a vacant building with purpose.