L.A. Offers Tours of 6 Sites Being Considered for Police Academy

The city of Los Angeles will conduct tours this weekend of six sites, including three in the San Fernando Valley, that are under consideration for a new police academy.

The present academy is near Dodger Stadium in Elysian Park. The facility was constructed in the 1930s and graduated its first class in 1936.

“Some of the facilities there were moved from Olympic Village in 1932 after the Olympics, and others were added over the years,” said Steve Hatfield of the Police Facilities Construction Group. “Some were built by off-duty police officers and others were donated, including some from Jack Webb,” the producer and star of television shows “Dragnet” and “Adam 12.”

The new state-of-the-art training center is expected to cost $40 million to $50 million and will be designed to meet an expected need for more police officers in coming years.

If the facility is built in Elysian Park, most of the old academy buildings will be torn down. If another site is chosen, the old academy will be converted to some other use by the department, Hatfield said.

The new academy will include an outdoor athletic field surrounded by bleachers to seat about 1,000 people. There will also be shooting ranges, classrooms, an administration building and a 325-seat auditorium. Based on a departmental goal of 10,000 police officers by 2010, the academy would train between 540 and 720 recruits each year, Hatfield said. The department now has about 8,300 sworn officers.

The three Valley sites will be open to the public on Saturday. They include:

* A 27-acre Sylmar lot owned by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power on San Fernando Road, near the juncture of the Golden State and Foothill freeways. It will be open from noon to 1 p.m. The public is advised to enter from San Fernando Road.

* A 28-acre site at the Lower Los Angeles Reservoir Basin near Ryan Street and Telfair Avenue. It will be open from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. The entrance is on Lakeside Street off Telfair.

* An undeveloped 24-acre plot next to Olive View Medical Center. It will be open from 3 to 4 p.m. The entrance is north of the hospital off Bledsoe Street.

On Sunday, the other sites will be open to the public. They include:

* The current police training site at Academy Road and Academy Drive near Dodger Stadium. It will be open from noon to 1 p.m.

* A 25-acre former railroad yard just north of the current Police Academy in the 1900 block of San Fernando Road. The entrance at Division Street and San Fernando Road will be open from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m.

* Part of the property at the former Franciscan Pottery factory, 2901 Los Feliz Blvd., near Brunswick Avenue in Atwater Village. It will be open from 3 to 4 p.m. The entrance is on Los Feliz, near Revere Avenue.