Training room, ammunition storage proposed for Naperville police

Naperville police soon will have more space at their station for training and ammunition storage, pending city council approval of a construction project.

The council on Tuesday night is likely to approve a $438,053 contract with R.C. Wegman Construction Company of Aurora to build a 2,100-square-foot addition to the second story of the building at 1350 Aurora Ave.

Most of the space will become a new training facility for the more interactive way officers are learning defensive tactics, Deputy Chief Brian Cunningham said. The department needs the space because it has seen a rise in officer injuries sustained both during training and regular duty, and those injuries have led to costly workers' compensation claims.

"A lot of that can be remedied by better training," Cunningham said. "In the last couple years, we've been doing more realistic scenario training. Nationwide that's the trend police departments are going to."

Training now goes on in the department's community room, which isn't conducive to the "hands-on" way officers learn patrol skills.

"The size and capacity of that room has created some issues for us so we really need to upgrade," Cunningham said.

The project is combined with work to create a 300-square-foot, secure area in which to store ammunition. Cunningham said this space will be built near the department's gun range and will offer a safer spot to keep excess ammunition than where it is currently stashed in the garage portion of the facility.

The project was delayed a year as the city council made budget cuts, and some work was removed from the scope to be done in-house to save money, according to a memo from police Chief Robert Marshall, Public Works Director Dick Dublinski and Finance Director Rachel Mayer.

City crews will remove sidewalks necessary to complete the project and the space will be built without an originally designed enclosed entrance vestibule and overhead coil garage door.

The council is scheduled to vote on the project as part of a consent agenda of several items during a meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the municipal center, 400 S. Eagle St.