Neighbors criticize site of possible police training

COLUMBUS (AP) — A private law enforcement training facility proposed in a rural community just miles from two interstates would attract police from several states, said two former private security contractors who worked in Iraq.

But residents near the 200-acre site in eastern Ohio say they’re worried about safety and the noise from the planned live firing ranges and helicopter pad. About 1,200 signatures have been collected from people opposed to the idea.

“They looked for a sleepy little township like ours,” said Robert Heinton, who retired in 2007 and moved to a home near the site. “And they tried to sneak in and convince local politicians who are just desperate to create jobs and improve the local economy.”

Bill Janson and Dennis Dechant say they got the idea after working as private security guards for the U.S. State Department in Baghdad for three years.

The Ohio natives and former U.S. Marines returned home, and both got married last year and looked for ways to apply their expertise. They say they scouted about 75 locations before the Guernsey County commissioners approached them late last year about county-owned land near Lore City.

Their company, Templar Tactical, based in suburban Cleveland, believes the facility will attract 4,300 personnel a year from local, state and federal law enforcement and firefighters, as well as National Guard members and private security contractors.

“This site fit everything we were looking for,” Janson said. “No zoning restrictions, and it was close in proximity to amenities.”

It’s also close to where Interstates 70 and 77 intersect — nearby Cambridge often calls itself the crossroads of America.

Sam Todd, the president of the Ohio Tactical Officers Association, said there’s a strong market for such an operation in Ohio. The public and private facilities available in the state are either inadequate or don’t have enough space for the number of officers who need regular training on hostage rescue or high-risk building entries, he said.

“Some states have some pretty elaborate academies, but Ohio’s not one of them,” said Todd, a police sergeant in Kent.

There’s also a strong need among police agencies across the country for private training, said Peter Singer, a national security expert at the Brookings Institute in Washington.

And there have been more attempts across the country in recent years to open facilities modeled on the North Carolina campus of the private security contractor Xe, he said. Xe is the security and training company formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide.

“The challenge has been the political controversy that has surrounded the companies, particularly Blackwater. And they’ve often run into local political problems,” Singer said. “But there is a marketplace for it. That’s just the reality.”

Guernsey County Commissioner Steve Allen said he believes the project will create at least 10 jobs at the facility and will bring in much-needed revenue and capital funding. Trainees staying at hotels and eating at restaurants will also benefit a local economy that has been hit hard by the recession, he said.