The Sisyphus Comments

Localities Squabble Over Police Academies

If the two sides do not agree to merge into one facility, the estimated cost of two separate projects could be $10 million.

This article, which was written by Reed Williams, appeared in the Roanoke Times on June 23, 2006.

Roanoke and Roanoke County both want new police academies.

Officials from the two localities have discussed the possibility of building one academy and sharing it.

But Roanoke officials are leaning toward building theirs in the city. And Roanoke County officials say they want to build one in the county — even though there is a moratorium on starting new police academies in Virginia.

If the two sides do not agree to merge into one facility, the estimated total cost of the two projects could be $10 million — about $5 million for each.

“Does this valley really need three police academies?” said Rich Schumaker, director of the Salem-based Cardinal Criminal Justice Academy.

Police and sheriff’s deputies in Roanoke and Roanoke County already have places to train. County sheriff’s deputies use the Cardinal Academy. The Roanoke County Police Department, which has 134 sworn positions, contracts with the Roanoke Police Department, with 249 sworn positions, to train at the city’s academy at the Jefferson Center.

County officials say that Cardinal Academy is inadequate, for now and the long term, and they note that the academy has little space to expand in the future. City officials also say they need a new academy to meet their needs.

Roanoke County Sheriff Gerald Holt, with the support of the county board of supervisors, notified the Cardinal Academy last week that he plans to pull out of the academy, effective June 2007.

Holt wants to train his deputies at a “super academy” that he hopes will be built in the county. Roanoke County police also would like to train there.

But the sheriff and Roanoke County face legal roadblocks and other complications.

For starters, state law makes it difficult to leave Cardinal, and the academy doesn’t want the sheriff’s office to go. On top of that, Roanoke County’s vision to build a new academy in the county could depend on whether Roanoke goes along with the idea.

Even though there is a moratorium on starting a new academy in Virginia, the Roanoke police already are certified to train and theoretically could contract to train county police and sheriff’s deputies at a new location, said Ron Bessent, program administrator for training and development for the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services.

Or, as County Administrator Elmer Hodge suggested, the new county academy could be an authorized satellite of the city academy.

If the city is not on board, Hodge said he will look at every possible option to meet his goal. That could mean asking the General Assembly to allow Roanoke County to build its own academy despite the moratorium. If none of those efforts works, Hodge said the county is prepared to take legal action, though he wouldn’t elaborate.

House of Delegates Majority Leader Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, said that the General Assembly could pass a bill exempting Roanoke County from the moratorium.

But Griffith, who represents Salem and a chunk of Roanoke County, said that before deciding whether to support such a measure, “I would have to see how it’s going to affect the region as a whole.”

Another complicating factor is the question of where to train nearly 200 employees of a regional jail to open in 2008.

As for Holt’s efforts to withdraw from the Cardinal Academy, state law requires a two-thirds vote of the academy’s governing council. Members of the council, which is made up of representatives from the academy’s member agencies, effectively would be voting on a tuition increase for their own agencies.

The void that would be left if the 110-deputy Roanoke County Sheriff’s Office leaves the academy would raise the annual cost for each of the 35 remaining members by $32 per officer, Schumaker estimated. That would increase the Salem Police Department’s annual tuition by about $2,688 per person.

“Anytime cost goes up per officer for your department, you’re concerned about that,” said James Bryant, Salem’s police chief. Bryant sits on the Cardinal Academy’s governing council but said he’s uncertain how he will vote later this year.

The new county police academy would be on the 28-acre site of the Roanoke Valley Regional Fire-EMS Training Center off Kessler Mill Road.

Hodge envisions demolishing an old building on the property and constructing a roughly 15,800-square-foot facility that would complement the building that houses fire and rescue training on the site. Hodge estimated that construction of the new building could cost as much as $5 million.

“Some people would say we’re spending money unnecessarily, but that’s not true,” Hodge said. “If we stay with Roanoke city we will be asked to share in the costs in constructing their new academy. If we remain in the Cardinal Academy, eventually they will be forced to expand and we will be asked to pay for part of that too.”

Hodge says that putting the two academies on the same site would be good for regional cooperation among law enforcement, fire and EMS agencies. He also said the site is perfect to train for regional disasters and other crises such as hostage situations.

Cardinal officials say, however, that their academy already fulfills the needs of the sheriff’s office and could do the same for the new jail’s staff.

Holt said he is putting the interests of his sheriff’s office above those of Cardinal.

Meanwhile, Roanoke City Manager Darlene Burcham said she is keeping an open mind during discussions with Hodge, but she favors keeping the city’s academy in the city. She declined to say which site was under consideration, but said the project could cost about $5 million.

With the new regional jail set to open in 2008, members of the jail authority are scrambling to determine where the nearly 200 new workers should train.

Holt, who is chairman of the jail authority, would like to see them train at a Roanoke County academy, but that decision also rests with representatives from Salem, Montgomery County and Franklin County.

Members of the jail authority have been looking at regional academies, including Cardinal.

Montgomery County Sheriff Tommy Whitt, who is on the jail authority, said the idea of training them at a county academy was “futuristic” because of the legal roadblocks.

“There’s no authority for Roanoke County to form a new academy,” Whitt said. “There’s no guarantee that that will ever happen. That’s going to take a change in legislation and everything else.”