LAPD Begins Search for Academy, Training Sites

The Los Angeles Police Department, looking for a site for a new police academy and high-speed driving school, is concentrating its search on the rugged landscape of Sylmar.

Three of four proposed sites for the 50-acre police driving school are in Sylmar, where police officials will hold their first meeting tonight to hear public comments on the proposals. The fourth is Taylor Yard, the idle Glassell Park railroad yard near the Los Angeles River.

The public meetings are part of a process to pick sites both for the driving school and a new 25-acre police academy to replace the aged facility in Elysian Park. After sifting through 1,900 proposed locations, the department has narrowed the list to the four alternatives for the driver training facility and six for an academy--three of which are also in Sylmar.

The $5-million driver-training school is among 11 Police Department construction projects to be built with revenue from a $176-million bond issue approved by voters in 1989. Recently, Los Angeles police have been sharing a driver-training facility at the Pomona Fairgrounds with other law enforcement agencies, said Steve Hatfield, assistant commander of the department’s Police Facilities Construction Group. The new facility would also be used to train drivers for other city agencies in accident avoidance, Hatfield said.

Tonight’s meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Olive Vista Junior High School, 14600 Tyler St. On Tuesday, a public meeting will be held at Irving Junior High School, 3010 Estara Ave. in Los Angeles, to discuss the Taylor Yard site. Meetings on the academy sites will follow on July 9 at Irving and July 11 at Olive Vista, both at 7 p.m.