New state training center opens
Published 11:59 am Thursday, September 23, 2010
Gov. Bob Riley, along with local and state elected leaders, dignitaries and guests cut the ribbon at the new Alabama Criminal Justice Training Center in Selma Thursday. The center is located on the campus of Wallace Community College and will soon replace the training center that is currently located in Craig Field. -- Photo by Tim Reeves
SELMA — The new Alabama Criminal Justice Training Center is a drastic change from the facility Lt. Toni Crenshaw experienced in 1984.
“It’s just so much better, so much more up to date,” said Crenshaw, an instructor for the center. “Over there, everything is old, even with the living quarters. It’s totally updated.”
The new center, located on the Wallace Community College Selma campus, was officially unveiled Thursday.
“This new facility is the outward and visible signs of ‘wow’ for the Alabama Criminal Justice Training Center — a vital, adult-based, forward leading professional educational and training environment, which will shape law enforcement and criminal justice serves of our state for generations to come,” Col. J. Christopher Murphy, director of the Alabama Department of Public Safety, said.
This camp will replace the current training facility opened in 1977 at the former Craig Air Force Base.
The new facility has more spacious dormitories, updated classroom technology such as interactive SMART boards, firearms training simulator, dining area for 200 people and a 4,916-square-foot fitness center.
“For the very first time, we have quality in the facility equal in quality to the person who will gain training in the facility,” Alabama Speaker of the House Rep. Seth Hammett (D-Andalusia) said.
The center will also partner with Wallace so students who complete the 12-week police training session with nine college credit hours and students who complete the 24-week trooper training session will earn 15 college credit hours.
“I am peacock proud and honeymoon happy because this has truly been a work in progress,” said James Mitchell, president of Wallace Community College.
The $24.5 million project was completed in 18 months and funded by the 2007 education bond.
State officials had considered moving the center to a different city, but state Sen. Hank Sanders persistently pushed to keep the facility in Selma.
“We had struggled to keep the state troopers and the corrections here,” Sanders said. “But I don’t think we will have to struggle anymore. I think it’s going to be here for a long time.”
The old facility will continue classes for two more weeks before all students and instructors transfer to the new campus.
Alabama Criminal Justice Training Center is comprised of the Alabama Department of Corrections and the Alabama Department of Public Safety
