In Fort Worth, police officer candidates must pass a physical ability assessment in two minutes and 34 seconds or less. This assessment is pass/fail and is comprised of six components that include sprinting, climbing, restraining, rescuing and, ultimately, firing a weapon. The latest class of 16 recruits graduated Friday, Feb. 8.
Four days later, Fort Worth took one giant step toward a safer community with the groundbreaking of a new Public Safety Training Center. The City's current training facilities have been in use for the past 48 years and cannot accommodate a growth in staff members nor meet technology demands of the fire and police departments.
The $97.5 million state-of-the-art facility, located in south Fort Worth at 505 W. Felix St., will become the new headquarters and training center for Fort Worth Fire and Police departments. This 75-acre plot once housed operations for the federal government's General Services Administration.
"We will be the envy of the nation," said Mayor Betsy Price.
The new facility will have numerous indoor and outdoor training environments, including classrooms and office space, indoor firing ranges, tactical training areas, an Emergency Vehicle Operators Course (EVOC), storage facilities, and a Class-A live-fire training structure, just to name a few. The facility is scheduled for completion in late 2014
