History

The Public Safety Academy of Northeast Indiana:
Education for a Safer Region

The tragic events of September 11th and Hurricane Katrina showed the American people how crucial it is to have highly trained and educated public safety personnel.  However, in 2000, before either of those unfortunate days in American history, Fort Wayne Police Chief Rusty York and Fort Wayne Fire Chief Tim Davie both approached Mayor Graham Richard to discuss building new training academies.  Mayor Richard saw the need for new facilities but wanted to integrate training.  He had a vision of a new learning paradigm—one where the police and fire departments would not only work together, but also train together. 

            At about the same time, the city administration was seeking ideas for redeveloping Southtown (a dilapidated shopping mall on the city’s southeast side that had become an eyesore.) The initial thought was to turn the old Sears located in the mall into a new safety academy. But after taking a longer look at this proposal, it became apparent that the old Sears building wouldn’t have been able to support much of the desired technology for the new safety academy, and a new building would have to be built.

With the highest forms of technology and equipment combined with the emphasis of regional collaboration and cooperation, the Public Safety Academy will become a workforce training model for the region.

About the Facility

The Public Safety Academy is a public training facility organized to deliver integrated Public Safety training to Regional First Responders with both volunteer and paid professional units benefiting from access to this training facility.  These training programs are available to those individuals in the government and business who have made public safety a focus in their professional lives.  The Public Safety Academy will be 132,000 square feet of joint-use training and education space located in southeast Fort Wayne at the former Southtown Mall location.  As the south side of Fort Wayne continues to undergo a period of revitalization, the Academy will demonstrate the community’s commitment to the southeast part of the city.  It will be an additional component to the current economic development efforts on the southeast side of the city. 

Technology

Since the beginning of his first term, Mayor Richard consistently sought to bring the most modern technology and innovation to each Department and project. Hence, an emphasis on technology and on-line learning will help the Academy export its training services throughout the region and the state using a new fiber optics network.  The Academy will be the first to use state-of-the-art fiber optic broadband to potentially deliver training to all Allen County schools through ACEnet and Verizon’s Fiber-to-the-Premise for homes and area businesses.  Conference areas, a Planning Center, and public access space will be available for regional training and meetings.  A large simulator suite including the firearms training and defensive driving simulators, wet and dry fire training rooms, large indoor shooting range, health and fitness center, and customized exercise scenario software will make it the public safety training destination of choice for Northeast Indiana.  Educational space occupied by the higher education institutions of Northeast Indiana described below, will also make it the Public Safety education choice for students.

There is also a special room called the “Simunition” room.  Here, trainers have the ability to set up different scenarios so first responders can train in  environments dealing with topics such as hostage take-downs and recoveries of drug houses.  The panels used to set up the different room configurations are hung on a track system from the ceiling and are the first of their kind in the country.
Up to 500 people can view a presentation at the Public Safety Academy.  The auditorium will allow for a live viewing, but if necessary, video viewing will be available in two other rooms.  For security, the Academy will have a trench located around the Academy to disrupt vehicular attempts to damage the building.   Clearly, the role technology has had in the success of the Public Safety Academy cannot be overstated.

A Regional Focus

            The purpose of this academy is to not only make Fort Wayne safer, but to make Northeast Indiana safer by providing state-of-the-art, on-site and distance learning training, and educational opportunities through innovative curriculum and technology.  By taking the Fort Wayne fire and law enforcement experts and having them train join the training of other public safety officials, the entire region benefits.   This will lead to the finest trained Regional First Responders and future Public Safety Leaders.   This training would be offered to all Law Enforcement, Fire, and EMS agencies within the Indiana Department of Homeland Security’s Region 3 which encompasses twelve counties within Northeast Indiana.   This region has a population of 781,039 people and more than 5,000 First Responders.  Training will also be offered to entities such as the National Guard, along with anti-terrorism and business security officials.  Clearly, the Public Safety Academy has received support from across the region, including the state legislative delegation.

Educational Partners

In addition, through partnerships with both educational institutions and workforce development organizations, the Public Safety Academy intends to offer training and education to future Public Safety officials.  A partnership with Ivy Tech State College, the Regional Anthis Career Center, Indiana-Purdue University at Fort Wayne, Indiana Tech, Tri-State, St. Francis, and Taylor Universities will allow the Academy to offer public safety related degree programs.  These programs will excite youth about lifetime career opportunities in Public Safety.  These opportunities can best be accomplished through community outreach with existing programs such as the 21st Century Scholars and the collocated Safety Village. 

There will be educational opportunities for over 1,500 students in General Education/Public Safety.  There will also be educational opportunities for 40 students in the Anthis Fire Safety Program and 500 students in Ivy Tech’s Paramedic Science, Public Safety (Fire Safety) and Criminal Justice programs. 
Furthermore, a market analysis completed by the Northeastern Indiana Innovation Center (NIIC) sees the potential of more than 5,000 students annually over the next 8 years enrolling in a collaborative Emergency Management/Response degree program currently under development.  Through these partnerships, the Public Safety Academy will help develop an educational infrastructure to meet current and future challenges facing public safety, government officials, and business leaders.

Often times when students are taught in certain fields of study, they learn material in the classroom that is irrelevant to the “real world.”  The items covered in the classroom are nothing like the problems faced outside of the classroom.  With the creation of the Public Safety Academy, students are given the opportunity to learn classroom material and then, if needed, they can experience the physical components of that subject first hand with trained educators by their side.

Workforce Development

            When entering office in 2000, Mayor Graham Richard firmly believed that the fire, police, and EMS organizations needed to work together more efficiently in order to achieve a safer community.  These concerns were reemphasized after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.  Following the communication problems and struggles that public safety personnel experienced after Hurricane Katrina, the idea for a Public Safety Academy in Northeast Indiana resonated even more among local leaders and politicians.  As a result, the Public Safety Academy received $15 million over 15 years from the state of Indiana by showing that the Academy would emphasize regional collaboration and cooperation among public safety personnel. 

The State has pledge their support through Ivy Tech.  Ivy Tech will provide the education for the police and fire training.  Ivy Tech plans to rent five of the thirteen classrooms and three offices.  Their entire criminal justice, fire science and paramedic programs will be moved to the site.  Finally, through the workforce development efforts of the Academy, Northeast Indiana will begin developing individuals who are ready to contribute immediately to public safety, not only in Indiana, but also throughout the United States.

Innovative Cost Savings

        With simple cost saving techniques, the Public Safety Academy has been able to save thousands of dollars during the construction and building process.  Approximately $30,000 was saved by grinding parts of the old Southtown Mall parking lot for reuse in the asphalt of the Public Safety Academy.  The building itself was built “green” which in the end will save the Academy 25% in utilities.  There was also an additional 25% saved in the purchasing of furniture. 

Media and Public Attention

            The Public Safety Academy has worked hard to spread its goals and services to the community.   With the creation of a website and mass mailings, the Academy hopes to continue with the progress made in the area of media and public attention.  Numerous magazines such as Upstate Indiana Business Journal and Indiana Constructor have spotlighted the excitement of the Public Safety Academy in articles for their publication.

            In Upstate Indiana Business Journal’s March/April 2007 issue, Cheri Becker and Matt McClure wrote that the vision for the Academy “started as a new state-of-the-art Fire and Police Training Academy.  The events of Sept. 11, 2001 caused that vision to be expanded to include homeland security.  And then, Hurricane Katrina provided additional evidence for the importance of cross-training first responders and enabling them to readily communicate to save lives.”

Commitment

            The state of Indiana and Fort Wayne are investing in the future.  Fort Wayne has committed approximately $12 million in non-property tax funds for the construction of the Academy.  The CRED will fund some of the required infrastructure improvement in the area.  The state, as noted previously, has provided an additional $15 million over 15 years in support of the Academy.  The combination of these and other funding sources will allow the successful execution of a total project budget of $37 million.

            The Academy business model will be largely self-sufficient.  Currently, twelve of the thirteen classrooms have already been leased.  There will also be user fees for items such as the defensive driving simulator.  The Academy will hold sponsored events such as guest speakers.  Nationally recognized fire and law enforcement leaders will be invited to speak to the community.  For example, the fire chief from September 11, who will be speaking at the Academy, is bound to be a big draw and has, in the past, raised thousands of dollars for other causes throughout the country.  Finally, with the help of grants, a private foundation, and the combination of other minor sources of income such as vending machines and fees, the Academy will be able to pay off the $800,000 that will go toward utilities, a staff of six people, and other miscellaneous costs.

A Business Model

            The Public Safety Academy of Northeast Indiana will operate under a not for profit, government service model.  It will operate in conjunction with the Public Safety Foundation of Northeast Indiana that will serve to facilitate the collection and receipt of non-profit funding to be used for operational expenses.  Any moneys received above and beyond operating expenses will be used to defer the cost of additional trainers and programming for 1st Responder training.  It will consist of a small staff of six personnel who will ensure the daily operation of the facility and plan/coordinate partnerships and program offerings. 

Operations will rely heavily on the Fort Wayne Police and Fire trainers, as well as supplemental regional 1st responder trainers and regional educational assets.  It will derive revenue from numerous sources to facilitate the daily operation of the facility and programming.  These sources include classroom rental, office space, professional training user fees, sponsored events, contract fees, vending, grants and gifts, and the Fort Wayne Police and Fire facility operating budget.

A New Mindset for a New Future

          In the Academy, there will be one primary training room, a joint locker-room, and one gym.  There will also be one room that has both police and fire personnel cubicles located in it.   This set-up of the Academy promotes the interaction that is so strongly desired by Mayor Graham Richard.   As a result of this interaction, there is already sharing taking place even though the Academy has yet to open.  Law enforcement officials have already spoken to some of the firemen about joining the firefighters in EMS training.  This, as a result, makes the entire region of Northeast Indiana safer.

            The city of Fort Wayne and the Northeast Indiana region will only benefit from the Public Safety Academy.  The Academy will become a national model as innovations and technology will be combined to better train the public safety personnel that are both underappreciated and, unfortunately, often times forgotten.