Bringing Up the Ranks
New Facility will Serve as 'Boot Camp' for Future Deputies

By K. Robert Wendel

A new, $10.1 million Maricopa County sheriff's training facility will give law enforcement officers more equipment in their training toolbox for dealing with the multitude of threats facing the community and nation.

The 72,000-sq.-ft., two-story building is being built at the sprawling Durango Jail complex on Durango Road and 35th Avenue in Phoenix.

The project broke ground in January. One of the primary uses of the building is the sheriff's academy, where civilian recruits will be trained as deputies. Current deputies will also utilize the building to meet continuing training requirements.

The project features classrooms, administration offices, a gymnasium with mat rooms for self-defense training, an obstacle course and a 440-yd. running track.

"This project has a state-of-the-art training system," said Marc Thompson, a project manager for general contractor D.L. Withers. "There's no shooting range, so they don't have to worry about lead, but there is a simulated fire training range that's like a big 'X-Box,' where officers are presented with a situation on a video screen and they must respond."

Built on a slab-on-grade foundation on top of 3-ft. of over excavated, engineered fill, the design-build project is scheduled for completion in October.

"This is a complete turnkey project, so we are not only designing and constructing the project, but we are also designing and installing all of the special systems," said architect John Dick of Dick and Fritsche Design Group of Phoenix. "We are even supplying all the furniture, so when the sheriff's office moves in, they can basically unload their briefcase and start work."

In an emergency, such as a jail riot, the sheriff's training facility also doubles as a central command post with room for the media, a computer room and an operational staging area. A backup generator provides power in case of an outage or interruption.

Designers chose tilt-up concrete slabs for the job because of the nature of uses at the training facility, as well as the speed of construction.

"It's a 24-hour-a-day operation, so we wanted a material that would be highly durable because there is a lot of physical activity inside this project," Dick said. "The tilt-up was also suited to a very tight time schedule."

In addition to the training facility, an out building houses a mock-up of a detention block to train deputies how to handle prisoners. The nine-cell block also houses a training room where recruits receive their mandatory shot of Mace. An evacuation fan can clear out the building in under two minutes, and outside, a full component of emergency showers give recruits a place to rinse out the Mace.

While a central plant supplies chilled and heated water, mechanical designers chose to use variable air volume boxes for efficiency, with an ability to bring in 100 percent outside air. Midstate Mechanical performed the HVAC work.

"If the outdoor air temperature is lower than the one the building is trying to maintain, it brings in the outside air, reducing the air-conditioning load with more fresh air in the building," said Jason Bush, an engineer with Phoenix-based Kraemer Engineering. "The system also allows them to have a purge cycle at night time so when the building starts up the next day, it's purged of all recycled air and replaced with fresh air."

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