There is tremendous pressure by Escambia County Sheriff’s Office and Pensacola Junior College for Escambia County to give—-yes, give—$11 million to Pensacola Junior College to buy 684 acres north of Molino and build a regional training facility for police, fire and emergency medical personnel. PJC would get a matching grant from the state and the entire project would cost $22 million. The county’s money would come from the local option sales taxes.
Why the pressure? The land deal has to be closed by Dec. 18 or there is a $200K penalty. Doesn’t this sound familiar?
Sheriff-elect David Morgan and County Administrator Bob McLauglin are trying to put the brakes on the deal. The County Commission voted 3-1to cancel it and get the money back from PJC. However the final vote is not until Dec. 11.
Here is another interesting point – Okaloosa County already has a regional training facility at Northwest Florida State College – its Criminal Justice Center. Here is its brochure: criminaljustice
The center is designated by the state as the region’s Criminal Justice Training Center for corrections, law enforcement and cross training between career fields. To be certified/recertified, the Criminal Justice Training Center met stringent professional staff and facility requirements that included the college’s live firing range, defensive driving range and skid pad, specialized defensive tactics training area, first aid training area and other criteria.