TULSA -- Nearly half of the major renovations are complete at the Tulsa Police Academy. The total $4 million comes from the Improve Our Tulsa Third Penny Sales Tax, which also benefits the Police Courts and COMPSTAT buildings.
"It was coming apart so we got a brand new floor, complete face-lift renovation in there, we’ll be able to put in a couple of big industrial fans to move a lot of air in that space where we do so much working out," said Major Ryan Perkins, Training Director at the Tulsa Police Department.
$2 million from the Improve Our Tulsa sales tax was poured into fixing the roof, improving the gym, weight room, and now two classrooms with expanded rows and updated technology.
"We added the last three rows in this classroom are all standing rows, we’ve done a lot of education about how bad sitting down is for our officers, for their long term health," Perkins said.
For the next three years, the police department is hiring 90 cadets a year, which is a record high for Tulsa police because of the vision tax. Major Perkins says these renovations play a major part in recruiting new people.
"We want to show off this new facility when it looks nice and new so they can see 'wow this is a place where I’d want to come and train and start my police career,'" Perkins said.
Crews broke ground last May, and they're hoping to wrap up in the Spring 2019.
"Two more classrooms to do, they’re working on some meeting rooms just as a flat classroom space, doing some renovations in the men's locker room right now, and they need to finish up the roof and then we’re getting close to done," Perkins said.
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