Wichita State University, the city of Wichita and Sedgwick County have officially announced plans for a new Law Enforcement Training Center on WSU’s Innovation Campus.

Last week Sedgwick County and the city of Wichita unanimously approved a letter of intent to build the new $9.5 million training center, which will provide training space and classrooms for the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Department, Wichita Police Department (WPD) and the WSU Criminal Justice program.

Sedgwick County commissioners unanimously approved the proposal one day after the letter of intent was approved. A formal vote on the proposal by the city is still required.

An announcement held Tuesday at WSU’s Rhatigan Student Center included remarks from Wichita Mayor Jeff Longwell, Sedgwick County Commission Chairman Jim Howell, WSU President John Bardo, Sedgwick County Sheriff Jeff Easter, Chief of Police Gordon Ramsay, Nestor Weigand with MWCB Development and additional WSU faculty, staff and students.

“I am very excited that the new Law Enforcement Training Center will be located here, on Wichita State’s Innovation Campus,” said Howell. “The city of Wichita and Sedgwick County’s commitment to invest in a brand new, state-of-the-art facility for our officers is a great win for our community.”

Longwell, Easter and Ramsay echoed those thoughts.

“The council and I are honored to be a part of this initiative to provide our law enforcement officers with a new facility,” Longwell said. “We’re excited to work with our partners at WSU and the county and look toward the future as we strategically position our law enforcement force to best serve the needs of our community.”

“The Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office is pleased to maintain the great relationship with the Wichita Police Department and start a new partnership with Wichita State University,” said Easter. “Training law enforcement officers and having criminal justice students in the same building will be beneficial to all three partners and to the citizens we serve.”

“The city/county training partnership has been a model for others for over 30 years,” said Ramsay. “Now with WSU as our newest partner, we will continue to show others what collaboration really means, and we’ll all benefit.”

Building and nurturing opportunities

Construction is scheduled to begin this fall and is expected to take one year. The three-story, 60,000-square-foot center will be located just south of the Marcus Welcome Center and Woodman Alumni Center.

The first floor will include rooms for tactical training and fitness, 911 backup/training, crime scene incident and quartermaster’s rooms for the WPD and Sheriff’s Department. The second floor will primarily house classrooms for the WPD and Sheriff’s Department, and the third floor will include classrooms and offices for the WSU Criminal Justice Program, which includes the Regional Community Policing Institute and the Midwest Criminal Justice Institute, 500 students and 12 faculty and staff.

Current students, faculty and staff see great value in the new partnership.

“The establishment of a Wichita/Sedgwick County Law Enforcement Training Center on WSU’s main campus brings exciting opportunities to fellow and future Shockers," said Brittany Neigenfind, a junior studying criminal justice at Wichita State.

Wendell Nicholson graduated from WSU in 1992 with a bachelor’s degree and works as a patrol sergeant for the WPD. He recently returned to WSU to earn his master’s degree.

“This new training center will enable the Wichita Police Department to build a partnership with WSU, give us access to top-notch training and aid in recruitment efforts,” he said. “A new training center has been long overdue, and this will be an excellent opportunity that will help the WPD and encourage officers to pursue their educational aspirations.”

Michael Birzer, director of the School of Community Affairs, identified three areas in which the partnership will build and nurture opportunities.

“First, it provides law enforcement recruits and veteran-in-service officers with the opportunity to fulfil their basic and annual in-service training requirements at a state-of-the-art training facility,” he said. “It advances social innovation, which is a natural outcome of working interaction between law enforcement practitioners and WSU criminal justice researchers. And for students studying criminal justice at WSU, the opportunities for internships, cooperative education and applied learning are unmatchable.”

The project will be funded by the city of Wichita and Sedgwick County. Innovation Campus infrastructure funding will cover the costs of providing parking for the building, and the university will cover maintenance fees for the building for the first five years at approximately $200,000 a year.

Development is being led by MWCB LLC, with GLMV Architecture, MKEC Engineering and Crossland Construction named as contractors.

“We’re thrilled to be involved and grateful for the vision President Bardo and John Tomblin have for making this happen on the Innovation Campus,” said Weigand.