ABOVE: Danville Police Chief Christopher Yates explains plans for what will be a new training room inside the Danville Public Works Building.
Over the last few years, with the old Ameren area at the Danville Public Works building on East Voorhees sitting there doing nothing, Danville Police Chief Christopher Yates had a dream about utilizing that space. Now, thanks to a $1 million state grant emphasizing violence prevention and community development through law enforcement, the old Ameren area will soon be completely remodeled. The Danville Police will be able to set up special services and training there, in addition to Community Police Training and education for students.
AUDIO: We’re going to continue doing our citizens academies and our junior citizens academies. But we want to enhance those. And with the equipment and the location, involving both the classroom and the training room, we’re going to be able to make it a much better experience for our citizens.
On the east side of the Danville Public Works Building, the Police Department will soon begin work on padding the floor and walls for a virtual reality training room (1st picture), as well as tearing out the old Ameren call center for classroom and conference room space (last picture).
Chief Yates says the efforts to bring this grant to the Danville Police Department were initiated about a year-and-a-half ago by the late State Senator Scott Bennett, through House Bill 0900. And fortunately, Bennett’s successor, Senator Paul Faraci, kept the momentum going.
Another point brought up by Chief Yates was that the plans for moving these police operations into the empty portion of the Public Works Building could not have been done without teamwork. Yates says he has never before seen the City of Danville departments working so well together.
AUDIO: I wouldn’t be able to do this with just the Police Department running it. The Parks Department; we have Public Works; Eric Childers has been great in doing paperwork and getting it sent in. From Sam Cole, to David Ruwe, to Carl Carpenter, to the Finance Department, Joe Claypool. It’s a team effort.
Chief Yates’ plans for a Friendly Town overhaul include some new pavement and replacement of some old buildings (2nd picture).
Another part of the grant is to update Friendly Town over at Lincoln Park; and make this place of safety education for school children look just as new as it did in 1971; and hopefully get creative in finding other uses for it.
AUDIO: The asphalt needs replaced; two or three buildings need to be rebuilt. We want it to look fresh. We want it to be be something that not only the Lincoln Park Community is proud of, but also something that the entire community is proud of.
Chief Yates says he’s hoping to have the Friendly Town updates ready to go by next summer. As far as the work happening at the Public Works Building, the chief has his optimistic eyes focusing on next January.
He’s hoping their new virtual reality and scenario based training facilities can be shared with everyone from community organizations to other police departments.
