DECATUR – Today, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation announced a $15-million donation, to help to build a 46,000 square-foot training facility, owned and operated by the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board. It will be designed to meet the law enforcement training needs of Illinois.
The state of the art facility sits on 5 acres, on US Route 51 South and Grove Road.
It will include a two-story, 14,000 square foot administrative building with a mock court room, mock jail booking facility, scenario rooms, training rooms and other facilities. It will also have a 9,000-square foot, twenty-lane indoor weapons range and a two-story, 23,000 square foot building, with ninety beds for students, during training and for senior law enforcement officials for specialty training.
Buffett says, “I have had the opportunity to serve as an auxiliary deputy and under sheriff with the Macon County Sheriff’s Office for over four years. During that time, I have gained significant insight into the needs of law enforcement. Working with the Sheriff’s Office and the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board to build this facility directly aligns with our Foundation’s goals of creating jobs and supporting local businesses in the Decatur area as well as enhancing the quality of life and public safety of the region as whole.”
"It means a lot to have it here in Decatur," explains Macon County Sheriff Thomas Schneider, "Let's start with the recruitment aspect of it: our departments here locally will benefit from the fact that these cadets are going through, and of course going back to their parent agencies, but they'll also have the ability to see what Decatur and Macon County has to offer. There's a lot of good going on in Macon County, but more specifically for law enforcement, this is a dream come true."
"Everything starts with jobs. Having construction jobs, having employees working at the facility brings jobs, having employees working at the facility brings jobs, populations, better retail opportunities, better parks, better schools. It's a huge benefit for our community to have this," says Ryan McCrady, President of the Economic Development Corporation of Decatur and Macon County.
Construction will get underway this week and is being led by Romano Company, working in conjunction with Trades and Labor.
The facility is scheduled to be completed in the Fall of 2017.
