OGDEN, Utah – A facility in Ogden is allowing law enforcement and military personnel to try out dozens of scenarios to improve their tactics.
The Swanson Tactical Training Center has recreated several different areas for people to practice in, ranging from apartment complexes to schools to homes and even a bank.
CEO Cindy Purcell said they have gone to great lengths to make the simulated areas in what they call "The Village" look realistic.
"Every one of our buildings are completely furnished with odds and ends, trinkets, so that when a police officer goes into that situation they have a real live feeling for where they are at, so it’s a real-life scenario that they can set up,” she said.
Purcell said they have provided a variety of potential scenes for training.
"We have an 18,000 square-foot school that has two different hallways, classrooms are set up, restrooms, the cafeteria, and then in the back of that building we have a judge’s chamber with a courtroom that can be used in scenarios of court room training and or even set up as a chapel,” she said.
The center also features more traditional shooting ranges, and professionals from various states come to the center to train.
State Senator Allen Christensen, R-District 19, said Weber County may move to purchase the center.
"We have an opportunity here in Weber County to purchase the Swanson Tactical Center,” he said.
If the sale is made, officials said the training center would be opened to the public as well as professionals. Christensen said they believe opening the center to the public would improve the community by giving those who like to shoot a safe spot to do so.
"They're shooting up street signs and stop signs and fence posts and places that are not controlled that they really have no business doing,” he said.
Christensen said he hopes the deal is able to be processed this year, as they wish to begin making modifications that would make the center more accessible to the general public.
Click here for more information on the center from their website.
