The Hiawatha Police Department in Hiawatha, Iowa, has been anticipating construction of its new public safety training facility for close to a decade.

The police department is comprised of 15 full-time sworn officers, 2 reserve police officers and a K-9. To focus on training, the newly constructed Public Safety Training & Support Facility is 7,200-square-foot, and is equipped with a gym, physical training facility, a classroom and a garage for the department’s police cruisers and operations trailer.

The department conducts mandatory monthly training programs for every officer on an array of topics and subject areas, such as defensive tactics training and emergency medical training. The department plans to use the new training facility for many of these trainings that they previously had limited space for.

The police department held a ribbon cutting on August 31 for the new facility.