County Executive Steve Schuh, Police Chief Tim Altomare and other county officials this afternoon broke ground on the new Anne Arundel County Police Department Police Training Academy.
“A first class police department deserves a first class police academy and training center,” said Schuh. “With every brick we lay to build this crucial public safety asset, we demonstrate how important public safety is to Anne Arundel County and its citizens.”
The new police academy project is an $18.8 million, 30,000 square foot facility that will train new recruits to the Anne Arundel County Police Department, as well as personnel from the Sheriff’s Office and other regional law enforcement agencies.
“This is a historic day for our department,” said Chief Altomare. “At last, Anne Arundel County will have a first-rate training facility to support the best public safety professionals in the state.”
The County Executive first proposed funding for feasibility, design, and construction for the new Academy in in his FY2016 capital plan.
Construction is slated to be complete by the spring/summer of 2019.
The state of the art facility will be named in honor of Charles “Butch” Troyer, a retired county police officer who heroically prevented a hijacking at Baltimore Washington Thurgood Marshall International Airport in 1974.
The capital project was made possible through the JumpStart Anne Arundel capital project financing program.
Enacted in 2015, the capital plan embraces a 30-year bond financing option. This reform has allowed Anne Arundel County to expand its capital funding program and make critical school, public safety, road, and quality of life infrastructure improvements from Brooklyn Park to Pasadena to Annapolis to Odenton.
Images courtesy of Anne Arundel County Facebook