Royal Opening For Police Training Centre

Strathclyde Police's new flagship training centre received a royal opening.

His Royal Highness The Prince Charles, Duke of Rothesay officially opened the new Strathclyde Police state-of-the-art training and recruitment centre last month.

The flagship training centre has already been earmarked as a ‘centre of excellence’ with some of the best police instruction facilities in the UK, taking Scotland’s largest police force to the forefront of training provision.

Strathclyde Joint Police Board struck a 25-year deal with a London-based consortium to design, build and operate the new centre at Jackton, East Kilbride under the first Private Finance Initiative (PFI) project involving the Scottish police service. Building work began in April 2000 and the centre became operational in October 2001. The pioneering building provides far-ranging classroom and practical training for the Force’s 9,300 police officers and force support staff, and includes a specially-designed conference centre and recruiting wing.

Over 100 employees are based at the Force Training and Recruitment Centre comprising permanent administration and specialist support staff, but the centre also draws on the experience of seconded operational police officers who deliver both practical and theoretical training. The centre incorporates indoor and outdoor practical training, including an outdoor driver training area and all-weather trim track, while training staff are able to act out real-life scenarios indoors using complete mock-ups of a pub, shop, bank, court room and a police office. There is even a fully-built modern house on the premises which can be used for training officers in how to deal with domestic abuse incidents, drug recoveries and siege situations.

There is also a top-security soundproofed 50-metre firearms range to test practical and judgmental competence and training pods for more intensive training to cope with ‘angry man’ incidents and public safety at football matches.

The new premises contain multi-purpose classrooms for both general and IT training, a 224-capacity lecture theatre, a sports hall and fitness centre, a library and resource centre, a high-tech audio-visual unit and staff and student accommodation.

Training underpins all activities directed towards achieving Force goals and demonstrates the commitment of Strathclyde Police to developing its police and force support officers. Over one hundred different courses are on offer to students throughout the Force, with approximately 12,000 training places available on an annual basis. As well as practical training in officer safety equipment, driver training and IT development, specialist courses are available to meet the changing needs of policing, such as Policing a Multi-Racial Society, Joint Child Protection, Equal Opportunities, Human Rights, Criminal Investigation and First Aid.

Assistant Chief Constable Sandra Hood, said: "The centre is an invaluable resource, providing a state-of-the-art teaching environment in conjunction with modern conference facilities.

"The establishment of this first-class training facility allied to the high standard of varied and comprehensive training provided by our dedicated staff, will ensure that Strathclyde Police continues to be at the forefront of police training."