After years of construction and a $33 million investment, the Long Beach police chief and city leaders celebrated the grand opening of a new police training academy near El Dorado Park on Saturday.
“The city’s values are really reflected in what we invest in,” said Mayor Rex Richardson, speaking before an audience of dozens of law enforcement officers, elected officials and civilians. “We can build the police department of the future,” Richardson said, citing a series of city and department changes aimed at improving public safety in Long Beach and increasing the number of officers trained.
The expanded facility, which includes newly constructed buildings as well as major upgrades to existing ones, is now a sprawling campus of modular classrooms, office space, showers and locker rooms, and an indoor-outdoor workout area.
The site has been home to Long Beach police training since 1997, when the academy moved into trailers as construction began on the adjacent Long Beach Towne Center, on the site of the academy’s former home, Chief of Police Wally Hebeish said.
Nearly 30 years later, police training is entering a new era, Hebeish said, one that prioritizes officer recruitment and retention to ameliorate what Hebeish called a staffing “crisis,” which has plagued not only Long Beach but police forces across the country.
Previous reporting revealed that in 2024, one in five Long Beach police officer positions was unfilled. A spokesperson for the department said that the vacancy rate currently sits at 17% and has been as high as 22% in recent years. Vacancies have resulted in major delays when Long Beach residents call 911, even when situations demand immediate attention.
In response, LBPD unveiled attractive financial incentives to mitigate vacancies in 2023. Those incentives have since expired, Hebeish said, adding that the department is in the process of bargaining with the labor association. Word of mouth among officers has been instrumental in demonstrating the value of working for LBPD, Hebeish said, citing that he has hired 13 officers from other agencies this year.
The expanded complex increases the academy’s capacity to 100, about double the size of typical Long Beach police academy classes, a spokesperson for LBPD said. On Monday, the hundredth class will begin their training at the academy. At more than 90 recruits, it represents the largest class to go through the academy, Hebeish said.
This increased capacity builds on the progress Long Beach has already made (the city graduated four classes of recruits in the last three years and has attempted to streamline hiring) and “widens the pipeline” for the next generation of public servants, Richardson said in an interview.
Other elected officials emphasized that these changes are what Long Beach residents have asked for.
Investments in police and fire are a “high priority for our constituents,” said Councilmember Daryl Supernaw, who serves the 4th District, which includes the police training academy as well as much of the city’s law enforcement and emergency response infrastructure.
In an interview, he called the new facility “monumental,” not only because it will prepare officers to serve Long Beach, but because it is attractive enough to keep them there.
“I am proud to be part of the council team who approved this funding,” Supernaw said.
And with the recent green light from City Council to continue a “phase two” of construction and enhancements, the facility will soon include environmental remediation, a physical agility course and training structures simulating field scenarios, a spokesperson for the police department said.