CAL
December 2nd, 2009, 11:24 AM
Link (http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/County_firing_range_in_the_works20090927.html)
A state-of-the-art, $2.5 million shooting range is beginning to take shape in South Bexar County, a project county commissioners hope will turn a profit by eventually serving dozens of area law enforcement agencies.
When the first phase is completed late next year, the open-air training facility will host live-fire sniper and SWAT training and will feature multiple computer-operated targets and hostage-rescue simulations, sheriff's Lt. Darrell Sanders said.
Commissioners authorized the $2.5 million expenditure — another $5 million will be needed for subsequent portions — this month, and they are eager to determine whether the range will attract paying customers.
According to a report to commissioners, potential users include law enforcement officers from 23 cities and towns in the region, 10 public school districts, three universities and federal and state agencies in the area.
It's unclear clear how the county's plan to attract other agencies would jibe with an announcement last week that the FBI and Kerrville officials will use $1.3 million in federal funds to construct a regional shooting range in Kerrville.
Bexar County Commissioner Sergio “Chico” Rodriguez, who for years pushed for the county's own gun range, envisions the local project as one component of a “one-stop” training facility that would draw training classes — and the fees they'd generate — from law enforcement agencies all over South Texas.
But he acknowledges that the facility won't be fully built-out for several years.
At that point, when all phases are complete, the county will consider admitting non-law-enforcement gun enthusiasts.
For now, county officials are finishing up design of the first of three phases, a section of 20 shooting lanes and support facilities, which they hope will be under construction by January.
Sanders, commander of the Sheriff's Office's training academy, said the completed structure will feature rubberized material that will trap fired rounds, sloping walls and a slanted roof made of armor-plated concrete “that will be like no other training facility in this part of the country.”
Phase 2 would add 20 firing lanes, while Phase 3 calls for complex SWAT and sniper ranges — more elaborate than Phase 1's — and a space for training on tactical vehicles. That would include live-fire exercises using the county's armored personnel vehicle and a “shooting house” that officers would enter to confront multiple moving targets, Sanders said.
About 2,000 Bexar County sheriff's deputies, constables, investigators for the district attorney's office, adult probation officers and county fire marshals will undergo their mandatory, yearly firearms certification training at the shooting range, on 400 acres near Southton Road and Loop 410.
Currently, the county's law enforcement officers must compete for open slots at a gun range at Camp Bullis, which can take weeks to coordinate, said Betty Bueche, the county's infrastructure services manager.
“Finding a place for that many county law enforcement officers to get certified — which, by law, they must (do) every year — is difficult and time-consuming,” she said. “Having our own range available when needed will mean that our officers will no longer have to wait in line or wait for other agencies to decide when our officers” can take their live-fire exam.
Army officials who operate the Camp Bullis range plan to start charging a fee next year, Bueche said. The Sheriff's Office had used the range free of charge.
Bueche said the county would spend about $36,000 a year in fees if it continued sending officers to the Bullis range for their firearms certification.
This is a couple months old but I hadn't seen it before. The plan sounds good, but I'm not sure what the necessity is.
A state-of-the-art, $2.5 million shooting range is beginning to take shape in South Bexar County, a project county commissioners hope will turn a profit by eventually serving dozens of area law enforcement agencies.
When the first phase is completed late next year, the open-air training facility will host live-fire sniper and SWAT training and will feature multiple computer-operated targets and hostage-rescue simulations, sheriff's Lt. Darrell Sanders said.
Commissioners authorized the $2.5 million expenditure — another $5 million will be needed for subsequent portions — this month, and they are eager to determine whether the range will attract paying customers.
According to a report to commissioners, potential users include law enforcement officers from 23 cities and towns in the region, 10 public school districts, three universities and federal and state agencies in the area.
It's unclear clear how the county's plan to attract other agencies would jibe with an announcement last week that the FBI and Kerrville officials will use $1.3 million in federal funds to construct a regional shooting range in Kerrville.
Bexar County Commissioner Sergio “Chico” Rodriguez, who for years pushed for the county's own gun range, envisions the local project as one component of a “one-stop” training facility that would draw training classes — and the fees they'd generate — from law enforcement agencies all over South Texas.
But he acknowledges that the facility won't be fully built-out for several years.
At that point, when all phases are complete, the county will consider admitting non-law-enforcement gun enthusiasts.
For now, county officials are finishing up design of the first of three phases, a section of 20 shooting lanes and support facilities, which they hope will be under construction by January.
Sanders, commander of the Sheriff's Office's training academy, said the completed structure will feature rubberized material that will trap fired rounds, sloping walls and a slanted roof made of armor-plated concrete “that will be like no other training facility in this part of the country.”
Phase 2 would add 20 firing lanes, while Phase 3 calls for complex SWAT and sniper ranges — more elaborate than Phase 1's — and a space for training on tactical vehicles. That would include live-fire exercises using the county's armored personnel vehicle and a “shooting house” that officers would enter to confront multiple moving targets, Sanders said.
About 2,000 Bexar County sheriff's deputies, constables, investigators for the district attorney's office, adult probation officers and county fire marshals will undergo their mandatory, yearly firearms certification training at the shooting range, on 400 acres near Southton Road and Loop 410.
Currently, the county's law enforcement officers must compete for open slots at a gun range at Camp Bullis, which can take weeks to coordinate, said Betty Bueche, the county's infrastructure services manager.
“Finding a place for that many county law enforcement officers to get certified — which, by law, they must (do) every year — is difficult and time-consuming,” she said. “Having our own range available when needed will mean that our officers will no longer have to wait in line or wait for other agencies to decide when our officers” can take their live-fire exam.
Army officials who operate the Camp Bullis range plan to start charging a fee next year, Bueche said. The Sheriff's Office had used the range free of charge.
Bueche said the county would spend about $36,000 a year in fees if it continued sending officers to the Bullis range for their firearms certification.
This is a couple months old but I hadn't seen it before. The plan sounds good, but I'm not sure what the necessity is.