Knezovich continues push for permanent Sheriff’s Office training site

Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich hopes he can garner enough support to build a model law enforcement training facility at Spokane County Raceway.

That includes the backing of the Spokane Police Department, which has operated its own independent training center on Waterworks Road near the Spokane River for decades.

“It’s an old facility,” said Spokane interim police Chief Rick Dobrow, who attended a meeting this week after an invitation from Knezovich. The law enforcement leaders met with county commissioners, representatives of the Kalispel Indian Tribe and the U.S. Air Force to talk about the need for better training options in the area.

The Sheriff’s Office has housed its training in four locations in the past 10 years, Knezovich said. He wants a permanent location to replace the current center, housed in the former Mountain View Middle School near the Idaho border.

Knezovich wants that center to be on the grounds of raceway. But many options, including a partnership with Community Colleges of Spokane, are still area possibility, county commissioners say.

“There’s benefits to every option,” said Spokane County Commissioner Shelly O’Quinn.

The raceway option would allow the sheriff’s office to build an indoor gun range, something the police department’s facilities lack. Both the Air Force and tribal police agencies are looking for a permanent range option.

Knezovich said he’s spending too much shipping his deputies to Post Falls and a pit in Medical Lake for firearms training – options that may not be available indefinitely due to environmental hazards.

“I’d rather not spend Washington dollars in Idaho,” Knezovich added.

There’s also the possibility of hosting statewide training at the new facility if dorms and other amenities could be built. Basic law enforcement training takes place in Burien, Washington, under the current system, with a handful of academies returning to the Spokane area in recent years. That training takes place at the Spokane Police Department facility.

But the raceway option could also be the most expensive. Officials have not put a dollar figure on the amount, but Kalispel tribe representatives said they’d be willing to build near the area and offer the county a long-term lease for a facility on tribal trust lands in Airway Heights.

The cheapest option may be staying put. The East Valley School District is charging the county about $6,000 a month in rent, less than half what they paid in their previous arrangement at the former University City Mall site in Spokane Valley. But a gun range would not be possible, and the raceway provides the added benefit of a road track that could be used for vehicular training.

O’Quinn said she’s been in talks with the community colleges to offer law enforcement training on their campus. Knezovich said training on campus didn’t address travel for deputies, who still would need to go to the raceway or the Deer Park airport for patrol car training.

“This would be a one-stop shop,” Knezovich said. “There’s no wasted time to travel.”

Knezovich said he’d be willing to go before voters and support a bond to build the training facility. But, he said, there should be buy-in from all the different law enforcement agencies in the region, and a sharing of costs.

Spokane County Commissioner Todd Mielke agreed that jurisdictions should share the cost for a regional facility. He also said he wanted to make sure if a facility is built, it matches the needs of law enforcement.

“The last thing I want to do is invest in capital projects, on a long-term basis, and get the numbers wrong,” Mielke said.

Another meeting between stakeholders was not scheduled Thursday. Knezovich said to get the project off the ground, they’d need widespread buy-in.

“This needs to be done regionally,” Knezovich said. “And for it to be done regionally, the city of Spokane has to be on board.”