Emanuel to build $95M police and fire training academy

Chicago's cramped and antiquated police and fire academies will be replaced by a new $95 million "public safety training" campus in West Garfield Park, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.

The new shared training academy - with two buildings and outdoor training space - will have the capacity to provide training the U.S. Justice Department found so sorely lacking in the Chicago Police Department.

The new campus will be built on 30.4 acres of vacant, privately owned land at 4301 W. Chicago. That will provide a double benefit for a West Side neighborhood plagued by gang violence that local Alderman Emma Mitts (37th) has long complained was getting short shrift.

"The thousands of first responders reporting for training every day will not only drive economic development, but also add a big public safety presence," Mitts was quoted as saying in a news release.

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