Las Vegas Will Open the Police and First Aid Responder Reality-Based Training Facility Next Year

LAS VEGAS – A $35 million training facility in Las Vegas will open next year to offer police officers and first responders reality-based training.

The Las Vegas Metro Police Department (LVMPD) Foundation announced the training center’s progress on the five-year anniversary of the Route 91 Harvest Festival shooting, which killed 58 and injured more than 500. The shooting is the deadliest in U.S. history.

The LVMPD Foundation has raised $29 million.

“The training facility is being built to address the need for collective responses to incidents like the country music festival shooting on 1 October 2017, as well as to provide training for the police department and ultimately other law enforcement agencies so they can better respond to incidents requiring de-escalation, self-defense, and other types of responses — especially active shooter situations,” LVMPD Foundation Executive Director Tom Kovach said.

Kovach said the center is 50% finished. The first built and functioning building houses the training center’s administrative responsibilities.

The first building has classrooms and mat rooms for self-defense, de-escalation, and other training.

Kovach said the building has a simulation area that projects numerous scenarios. The simulation room “is divided up into smaller areas to imitate an apartment or other types of settings”

The building has hosted reality-based training, bleed training, and other advanced skills exercise for thousands of officers. Per session, 30 students max.

Kovach described reality-based training.

Officers drive to the building as though reacting to a real-life event. After exiting their truck, they enter the building and play victim and suspect in a role-playing scenario.

The LVMPD Foundation said the second building will be 130,000 square feet and include convenience stores, casinos, hotel rooms, a gym, school, restaurant, and a doctor’s office.

Officers will practice active shooter and personal defense scenarios to save as many lives as possible.

Credit: American Police Beat

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