SANBORN — Later today, the Niagara County Law Enforcement Academy will welcome it’s 83rd Basic Training Class to the SUNY Niagara Campus in Sanborn.
Niagara County Sheriff Michael Filicetti had hoped the new class of police recruits would begin their training in a new $8 million state-of-the-art facility. But Friday, the sheriff said his plan was delayed.
“We will be in our existing classrooms (on the SUNY Niagara campus) for the start of the 83rd Academy,” Filicetti. said. “I had high hopes to start the academy in the new building, but there have been a few delays and we will miss that mark by a few weeks.”
The sheriff said delays in a project the size and scope of the new academy building are not out of the ordinary. He noted it was largely “finishing touches” and other “relatively minor fixes” that still needed to be addressed.
“A few weeks is only a small hurdle,” Filicetti said. “Once we are moved in, our new recruits will get to take advantage of the new facility and everyting it has to offer.”
The new academy building, one of the largest investments in public safety ever undertaken in Niagara County, has been billed as “as a state-of-the-art training center for future public safety professionals.” Local law enforcement leaders have said they expect that the completed facility will be able to serve as a hub for police training for law enforcement agencies throughout Western New York.
Groundbreaking for the new academy home, located on the western end of the SUNY Niagara campus next to Parking Lot 4, took place in July 2023. Construction had been estimated to take about a year.
The 15,000 square foot, two story facility features four first floor classrooms, a high-tech use of force simulator, expanded office space for the academy directors and instructors and much needed locker room space for the recruits. Filicetti said the simulator can produce “thousands of potential situations” that officers could encounter on patrol.”
“It’s a fantastic training tool,” the sheriff said. “Something we don’t have right now.”
The first-floor lobby will also feature a video board that will show, on a continuous loop, pictures of all the academy’s basic training classes.
The second floor is an open space, outfitted with moveable walls, to allow recruits to prepare and train for any number of reality-based tactical scenarios, including active shooters. It also features a simulated jail pod for training corrections officers and a mat room for learning defensive tactics.
Filicetti calls the building a “one-stop shop for all our law enforcement training needs.”
Funding for the new academy came from roughly $5 million in American Rescue Plan funding provided by Niagara County and an additional $2.27 million from the State University of New York. Niagara Falls contributed $250,000 to the project, after reallocating tribal revenue funds that had been previously earmarked for a now-canceled city preparedness center project.
The Law Enforcement Academy was founded on the then Niagara County Community College campus in 1974. It moved to Niagara University from 2011 to 2021, before returning to the now renamed SUNY Niagara campus with the announcement of the construction of the new academy building.