After years of construction and a $33 million investment, the Long Beach police chief and city leaders celebrated the grand opening of a new police training academy near El Dorado Park on Saturday.
“The city’s values are really reflected in what we invest in,” said Mayor Rex Richardson, speaking before an audience of dozens of law enforcement officers, elected officials and civilians. “We can build the police department of the future,” Richardson said, citing a series of city and department changes aimed at improving public safety in Long Beach and increasing the number of officers trained.
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The expanded facility, which includes newly constructed buildings as well as major upgrades to existing ones, is now a sprawling campus of modular classrooms, office space, showers and locker rooms, and an indoor-outdoor workout area.
The site has been home to Long Beach police training since 1997, when the academy moved into trailers as construction began on the adjacent Long Beach Towne Center, on the site of the academy’s former home, Chief of Police Wally Hebeish said…