Apr. 16—SANBORN — It was a first look at one of the largest public safety investments ever made in Niagara County.
Sheriff Michael Filicetti and SUNY Niagara President William J. Murabito threw open the doors Monday to a hard hat tour of the new $8 million Niagara County Law Enforcement Academy (NCLEA). The facility is billed as a state-of-the-art training center for future public safety professionals.
“This is a joint venture between the province and the council,” Murabito said. “There is a need for an academy that has a home and has the best facilities and the best technology.”
The president of SUNY Niagara predicted that by “the end of the summer,” the current 26-member Basic Training class will benefit from all the new opportunities the facility will provide. Murabito said he expects that when construction of the new academy is complete, it will serve as a hub for police training for law enforcement agencies throughout Western New York.
Although much of the academy’s exterior has been completed, the interior remains a work in progress. Filicetti led the tour of the two-story building with offices, classrooms and locker rooms on the first floor. The main floor will also feature a high-tech use of force simulator that Filicetti said could produce “thousands of potential situations” that officers may encounter during patrols.
“It’s a great training tool,” the sheriff said. “Something we don’t have right now.”
The first floor lobby will also feature a video board that will continuously display photos of all of the academy’s basic training classes.
The entire second floor is currently an open space that will eventually be outfitted with movable walls to allow recruits to prepare and train for a number of reality-based tactical scenarios, including active shooters. It will also include a simulated prison pod for training corrections officers.
The new academy building will be 15,000 square feet and serve as a hub for the basic training of new law enforcement recruits, pre-employment recruits, current law enforcement officers, corrections officers and SUNY Niagara’s criminal justice students.
The building is located on the west side of the SUNY Niagara campus, next to Lot 4. The project started in July.
Funding for the new academy came from approximately $5 million in American Rescue Plan funding provided by Niagara County, and another $2.27 million from the State University of New York. Niagara Falls contributed $250,000 to the project, after reallocating tribal revenue funds previously earmarked for a now-canceled urban preparedness center project.
County Legislature Chairwoman Rebecca Wydysh called the project money well spent.
“You want to provide every opportunity for the men and women who will keep us safe to get the most up-to-date training,” Wydysh said. We don’t take that lightly.
The Law Enforcement Academy was founded in 1974 on what was then the Niagara County Community College campus. From 2011 to 2021, it moved to Niagara University, before returning to the now renamed SUNY Niagara campus with the announcement of the construction of the new academy building.
