ABOVE: Chief Yates addresses visitors in the classroom portion of the new Police Community Training Center, in the Danville Public Works Building at 1155 East Voorhees.
During a Wednesday (May 29th) open house at the new Danville Police Community Training Center, Police Chief Christopher Yates thanked everybody from city officials to area residents for putting a $1 million dollar state grant to work. The grant, designed for projects emphasizing violence reduction and community collaboration, came from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DECO).
Danville Police were able to use this grant for two community oriented projects; the new police community training center, and the refreshing of the Friendly Town Traffic Safety Education Center in Lincoln Park. Chief Yates says, he didn’t think both projects would end of coming to a conclusion at about the same time; but now that they have, all you can do is be thankful to all involved; from the residents that came out to work on Friendly Town and everything else.
AUDIO: You can’t control contracts and other things; so rather than trying to control it and change it we just went with it, put in the extra time and hours and work, and got it done.
(1st Picture) State Senator Paul Faraci, whose predecessor Scott Bennett helped secure the DECO grant that made the project possible, listens in while Chief Yates explains the new training center. (3rd Picture) Chief Yates speaks while symbols of the Danville Police, Vermilion County Sheriff, and other Vermilion County Police Departments are shown on the classroom wall behind him.
Chief Yates says things have gone so well with this grant, that all of the $1 million has been put to work except for an extra $25,000; which will likely be used for something at Friendly Town.
It was during a public works oriented meeting way back when that the question was, “What should be done with the empty part of the Public Works building that used to be the Ameren call center. That was when Chief Yates spoke up and said he had an idea. And when it was heard, everyone was behind it. Current Director of Public Works David Ruwe says there was very little, if any, disagreement.
AUDIO: Pretty good effort on everybody’s part to just kind of work together, and make something that I think is going to have a lasting impact on our community.
Chief Yates explains uses for the training room, down the hall from the classroom, at the new Danville Police Community Training Center.
The DECO grant was actually finalized by the late State Senator Scott Bennett. His successor Paul Faraci was there Wednesday morning, knowing Bennett would have liked what he saw.
AUDIO: I wish he was here to see this. I think he’d be real proud. I think what this shows is a collaborative effort by people who care about our community. And this is going to save lives.
The training center starts with the classroom, but has a nearby training room with mats and virtual reality capabilities to work on control tactic, hands on, and role playing situations. And on a training center classroom wall, you’ll find the sheriff’s department logo, and logos from other Vermilion County Police Departments. Chief Yates says other police departments and community organizations that need special training can use the facility. The Danville Citizens Police Academy will not always be held there. And Mayor Rickey Williams, Jr says; that’s once again the Danville Police leading the way.
AUDIO: I’m really proud of our department, because they go above and beyond. We not only meet the state and federal training requirements, but we exceed that by about 15 or 20 percent every year. So this is a great place for our police to learn how to work well with our public, but also this is a great place for the public to come learn about the police department.
And getting back to Friendly Town, a special celebration of its brand new revitalized look is set for 6 PM, this coming Wednesday, June 5th.
