Tim Dunn/CapeCod.com.
YARMOUTH – The first phase of a new special police training facility, built in honor of slain Yarmouth Police Sergeant Sean Gannon, was officially opened on Thursday.
Alongside Lieutenant Governor Kayrn Polito, as well as other local and state elected officials, the Yarmouth Police Department officially opened the MILO (Multiple Interactive Learning Objectives) Range Simulator with a ribbon cutting ceremony on Thursday.
“Sean was a great trainer. He trained all the time with his dog and kept in physically great shape. But, we wanted to make training available to everybody, to improve it. People who know me, know I’ve had a passion for police training for decades,” said Yarmouth Police Chief Frank Frederickson.
Phase One is an interactive training facility located in the basement of the department, equipped with shooting simulator for patrol officers. It includes de-escalation training for officers in the effort to better equip officers to minimize the severity of potentially dangerous situations.
“Sean would be so proud of all you, but not surprised,” Polito said.
“If we can figure out how to take this best practice and this technology under the model that you have here and scale this to other departments in places around the Commonwealth, then we really will be leading the way as a state.”
It’s the first of four phases that will eventually complete the Sgt. Sean M. Gannon K-9/Police Officer Training Facility.
Following a brief review of plans and funding for the facility, Chief Frank Frederickson brought Polito and the media to the Phase One facility located in the basement.
Tim Dunn/CapeCod.com
Polito took part in simulated exercises alongside Yarmouth police officers. The situations put the practicing officer into a real-life scenario where quick judgement is needed by an officer of whether or not to use deadly force.
Phase Two is a 40’ x 80’ Training Building, an on-site mock house to be used as a realistic training environment for K-9, S.W.A.T., and other police units. Construction of the building comes at a $300,000 price tag.
A “next-generation” K-9 and Police Obstacle Course would complete Phase Three at a cost of $40,000. The course would include training areas for other duties and tasks performed on the job.
Finally, Phase Four would complete the entire complex with an enclosed live-round firing range. Training for police officers as well as tactical and qualification training would take place inside a $500,000 bullet proof container.
Currently in Massachusetts, municipal police officers are only required to attend shooting training a minimum of twice a year, mostly at a hometown gun range.
“We know that the infrastructure for police training is very deficient – locally, statewide and federally. We’re not sitting back anymore. We’ve raised our voices. We’ve partnered with our Governor and Lieutenant Governor, our legislators – some of which that aren’t here, our Cape delegation was immense. They listened and now we have a sustainable training budget,” said Chief Frederickson.
“It’s amazing what has happened, but we’re not done. It’s not just relying on our state government to do what has to be done. We need our local government to also understand that they are partners in this too. We owe this to our police officers every day to give them the facilities and the amount of time to train available to them.”
By TIM DUNN, CapeCod.com News Center
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