The facility will train part-time officers and law enforcement officials
MONROE COUNTY, MISS. (WCBI) – The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office will soon have a training center for part-time officers and prison wardens.
“I used to walk on the concrete at this place and think about how this might one day be a good place to train law enforcement officers,” said Kevin Crook, Monroe County Sheriff.
Now, Sheriff Crook’s vision is becoming a reality. The Board of Supervisors recently purchased 16 acres directly across from the Sheriff’s Department on Meridian Street.
There was once a cotton compress on the vacant lot.
Earthworks will soon begin on Phase One of a training center that will train part-time officers and law enforcement officials. There will be classrooms, weight rooms and locker rooms.
“It just feels like God laid the foundation for all of this and has gone ahead of us. We look forward to training lawyers from all over the world. One thing we’ve emphasized over the last two to three years is training, that’s where our heart beats. Things change, you have to constantly update tactics and the way you go about things, we want to be at the forefront of that,” said Sheriff Crook.
The training center should take almost a year to build and there are other plans for the rest of the property.
“Phase two and three, shoot house and range and things that we’re going to do, hopefully they’re going to be state of the art, give us exposure regionally, there’s nothing we want to build close to us,” he said .
That means the training center can attract officers from Mississippi, Alabama and the Southeast.
The Monroe County Sheriff’s Department was also authorized to maintain a correctional officer training academy. That will be part of the first phase.
There are also plans for a hiking trail and rehabilitation center for inmates to get their GEDs and learn job skills.
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