San Fernando : High-Tech Police Facilities Open

A new firing range and an emergency communications center opened this week at the San Fernando Police Department.

Paid for with funds raised by the San Fernando Police Advisory Council and from grants, the new three-lane firing range, located in what used to be an empty alley behind the station, is entirely automated, said Sgt. Robert Ordelheide, who oversaw construction of the new facility.

“It’s state of the art,” Ordelheide said. “There’s a new bullet trap made out of granulated rubber, three lane firing positions, and you can program just about anything you want into the targets: good guys, bad guys, the targets turn, run away and run toward you.”

The enclosed range, which cost about $46,000, was soundproofed so officers can practice shooting during any shift, officers said.

Adjacent to the firing range is a modern emergency communications center, designed to give officers complete communications capabilities during and after disasters such as earthquakes.

A state grant of $190,000 helped pay for the communications center. GT Global Telecommunications also provided a grant of $10,000 for the center, which replaces an antiquated one at the old police station on MacNeil Street. Police at the old facility were unable to use radios there after the Northridge earthquake because there was no separate power generator. The new facility has its own generator.

“If for some reason, the San Fernando Valley gets shut down, we’ll have antennas and radios and transmitters with enough power to reach Sacramento, or anywhere around the world,” said Bill Bailey, president of the advisory council.

“The idea is to allow our force to remain 100% operational during any emergency,” Bailey said.