Friday, May 30, 2008

Training hub named for police veterans

Training hub named for police veterans
Article Launched: 05/30/2008

A state-of-the-art training facility for peace officers and a nearby thoroughfare were dedicated Thursday in the name of two Fairfield police veterans.

The facility, which consists of 49,000 square feet of training space, boasts a 20-lane, 25-yard pistol range; a six-lane,100-yard rifle range; a 3,200-square-foot mat room for weaponless defense training; multiple classrooms that can accommodate up to 100 students; a simulator training center with three driving simulators and one force-option simulator; and a 20-seat conference room.

The long-awaited building was named for fallen Sgt. Art Koch, the only Fairfield officer in history to die in the line of duty.

Koch died July 29, 1984, a day after being shot by a Vietnam veteran who is now serving a life sentence in prison without the possibility of parole.

The Fairfield Police/Art Koch Training Facility sits at 1717 Rex Clift Lane. The lane is named in memory of Fairfield's first police chief. Clift served the department from 1943 to 1958.

No comments: