When the Hermosa Beach City Council approved an arcane zoning change on May 26 for two buildings right behind city hall, it paved the way for the Hermosa Beach Police Department to get its very own firing range. It also took some residents by surprise.
The two city-owned parcels at 1309 Bard Street are currently used by the police department, fire department and non-profit Friends of the Library. Late this summer, one of those buildings will be transformed into a state-of-the-art firing range and police training facility, complete with a Firearms Simulator to train officers in using non-lethal force. (The buildings were zoned for commercial uses, but are now designated as open space).
Hermosa Beach Police Sergeant Robert Higgins said the facility will address a number of problems facing the department and eliminate the costs of renting range time from other cities’ police departments, such as those in Manhattan Beach or Hawthorne. The HBPD has also paid to shoot at private ranges, at a cost of $3,000 a day. What’s more, the new range will remove the cost of paying officers overtime to train, Higgins said, since they will be able to train while on duty.
“We basically beg, borrow and steal to shoot at other people’s shooting ranges [since] we don’t have one,” Higgins said. “It’s cost-prohibitive. You have to pay the officers if they’re not on duty. They get paid time-and-a-half.”
The facility will also expand opportunities for Hermosa’s three dozen officers to train, since it will be right next to the police station. Higgins said Hermosa officers currently do firearms training every six months and force option training every two years.
“That’s all we can afford to do,” he said. “We’re on a shoestring [budget] most of the time.”
With the new facility, officers will train with guns and the simulator every three months.
The $381,000 facility won’t look like typical outdoor shooting ranges. Instead, it will be encased in a repurposed shipping container lined with ballistic steel. Inside the 70’ by 8’ structure, there will be two lanes for shooting live ammunition. The space can also be used as a “force option simulator,” a computer training program that allows officers to practice various virtual law enforcement scenarios, from dealing with a homeless person on a bench to deciding when to use deadly force, by interacting with a screen or images projected onto paper targets.
The project was approved by the city council as part of its midyear budget review in February, when the council authorized $40,902 from the general fund for the project. The remaining money will be derived from asset forfeiture funds generated by Hermosa police officers involved in regional narcotics task forces, with a smaller portion coming from a state fund used to purchase police equipment.
The space was formerly owned by Body Glove and sold to the city in 1998. The council’s recent approval of the zoning change brought the project to the attention of the community.
Since the range will be located in a high-density area just a block off of Pier Avenue, some residents have expressed concern about having live ammunition in close proximity to residents passing by.
“People are concerned they’re going to be shooting here. Is that something we really want?” said local resident Chris Prenter.
Prenter said he can sympathize with the police department’s need to do training and that he’s not opposed to the project. He feels there wasn’t enough information about cost given to the public during the approval process, however.
“The city council hasn’t been very forthcoming with information,” he said. “If it makes sense for the city financially then I don’t really have a problem with it … But I would’ve liked to have known before it got pushed through.”
Police Chief Sharon Papa is expected to present additional information to the public at the June 23 city council meeting.
Mike Halverson, chief executive of Shooting Range Industries, the Las Vegas firm that is constructing the range, said the company has built many ranges currently used in high-density areas without incident, including next to daycare centers.
“This isn’t an anomaly,” Halverson said. “You can put these anywhere. There’s no noise problem, no hazard of a round escaping the building. It’s safe for everyone.”
Even with all the safeguards in place, residents may not want to be reminded of guns as they make their way into downtown Hermosa, said Jody David Armour, a professor at the USC Gould School of Law and an expert on gun control issues.
“There’s the question of what symbolically are you saying by putting a firing range in such a conspicuous public space, and reminding passersby of lethal weapons and lethal encounters between law enforcement and citizens? Why showcase that?” he said.
Higgins said the soundproofing of the training facility will be such that the building’s air conditioning unit will be louder on the outside than any of the training happening inside.
And there is a strong feeling among the police department and city council that having the facility in town will make for a better-trained police force and improve public safety.
“It’s a good tool for the public safety officers,” said Mayor Peter Tucker. “The more training you have, the better.”
