Leesburg police propose new shooting range, training center

LEESBURG — New statewide regulations require police officers to have additional firearms training. In order to accommodate those requirements, Leesburg City Council members are now considering opening a shooting range and training facility at the city’s wastewater treatment plant.

The need for the shooting range was the main topic of discussion at the Leesburg City Council meeting Tuesday.

In a letter dated Sept. 25, LPD Capt. Chris Prokesh, on behalf of the department, expressed the need for the gun range and training center.

“This memorandum is a request for the police department to create a facility for the mandatory annual training needs as prescribed under the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council,” Prokesh wrote. “Every officer … is now required to have a minimum of eight prescribed annual training courses each calendar year of their employment to retain their arrest powers and POST certification.”

Prokesh said required training includes use of force, force de-escalation, community policing and a minimum of four live fire range requalification courses.

“These (courses) include separate courses for the authorized duty pistol, patrol rifle, backup weapon and any other firearm they are authorized to carry,” Prokesh wrote. “This would also include officers qualified with specialty tactical weapons, including the agency’s scoped bolt-rifles and 12/37/40mm platform launched less-lethal munitions.”

In addition to the weapons training, there is an annual requirement for every officer to have at least 20 hours of classroom training. According to Prokesh, there would be minimal expenses involved in the request since fill dirt and city equipment could be used for setting up the gun range and a surplus portable building would be affordable as well as easy to locate and acquire.

Ultimately, the department is seeking approval for the gun range and a portable FEMA-type building that could be used for storage and classroom training.

“There is a real and immediate need,” Prokesh told commissioners at the meeting. “This is something that is long overdue for an agency of our size.”

In the past, Leesburg police officers have had to travel to other shooting centers in Tifton or Americus to get their training, Prokesh added.

“We had to travel to other agencies, and that has made it hard on our entire police department,” he said. “It has caused our entire police department to be dispatched outside the city limits. If we could have this shooting range nearby, we could do the training shift by shift instead of taking the whole department out of the area.”

Prokesh, who is a certified trainer, said he also wants to see Leesburg police officers gain more shooting time and training than what the state requires.

“As an instructor, I’d like to see more than the bare minimum,” he said.

Prokesh said the shooting range would take up about 1/4 of an acre on the back perimeter of the wastewater treatment plant, and all shooting would go in a southern direction.

“This would be the safest direction because there are no houses or residential properties,” Prokesh said. “There would be a wooded area.”

Leesburg Mayor Jim Quinn suggested expanding the use of the proposed shooting range to offer community service-type handgun and self-defense courses and to potentially open the shooting range to other agencies in need of classroom facilities or weapons training.

City Manager Bob Alexander said his only concerns are noise and zoning. He recommended having the city attorney look into those issues and to report back at the next council meeting.

In other Leesburg business, city officials agreed to auction off surplus vehicles on the govdeals.com website.

City officials also approved renewing Alexander’s contract and agreed to give him a 3 1/2 percent cost of living raise.