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A lot of strange things happen almost daily at 4665 Blue Plains Drive SW in Washington, D.C. Police officers there deal with armed intruders of occupied buildings, hostage situations, and more by battering down doors, hunting gunmen in a school, using tear gas, and rappelling from rooftops.
Actually, 4665 Blue Plains Drive is the Metropolitan Police Academy, and inside is the “Tactical Village,” a replica town inside a 40,000-square-foot building. The town has streets, alleys, cars, a bank, a school, an office building, and a convenience store.
At the District of Columbia’s $5.5 million facility, police recruits and seasoned SWAT teams alike train in a realistic environment for scenarios they can’t safely practice in public.
None of the buildings in the Village have rooftops. GatorBridge built 11 all-aluminum catwalks, with stairs and railings, to provide supervisors and video cameras with panoramic views of the training drills. Thanks to the grated aluminum decks, supervisors can even see what’s happening directly under their vantage points.
Law enforcement agencies from throughout the U.S. have toured Tactical Village, which is believed to be the nation’s first tactical training facility with unobstructed views of building interiors from catwalks.
GatorDock™ and GatorBridge™, brands of Crane Materials International™ (cmilc.com), began fabricating marine access structures in 1976. The companies specialize in custom aluminum structures, from pedestrian bridges to piers. Customers include theme parks, golf courses and hundreds of federal and state entities, such as the US Forest Service. Discover more at gatordock.com and gatorbridge.com.
FAST FACTS ABOUT TACTICAL VILLAGE
Washington, DC
Installation: GatorBridge
Year: End of 2013
Client: Metropolitan DC Police Department
Features:
11 Catwalks
4 Custom Support Columns
2 Sets of Custom Aluminum Stairs
Aluminum Grating Deck
Custom Aluminum Rail
Time range:
4 months
Project Summary:
The aluminum catwalks at Tactical Village provide supervisors
with a bird’s eye view of training drills. The contractor working
on the project contacted GatorDock for a custom engineered
solution for the police and SWAT team training facility. The
resulting catwalks’ design borrows heavily from Gator‘s DRI
gangway featuring an integrated truss handrail. Our grated
aluminum deck on the raised walkways allows maximum
visabilty for supervisors. Gator was proud to provide our aluminum
structures working for those who protect.
Case Study Specifics:
The facility was designed to train police officers to be
put in real-life scenarios such as hostage situations. Tools
such as camera monitors viewed training maneuvers.
Unique Feature:
Bridges were hung from the top of the building enabling supervisors
to panoramically view activity in real time, eliminating the need
for pedestrian bridges. It was fabricated for high tolerance
traffic.
Result:
Since this was the first building of its kind, it attracted
law enforcement agencies and police swat teams throughout
the U.S. to visit the building and adapt the logistics
for their own facilities.
Gator is the design and manufacturing leader of aluminum marine access and bridge, dock and gangway building projects. Aluminum is the best building material for pedestrian bridges and marine access structures. Gator creates high quality structures for practically any application. For more information or an interview with the designer please contact:
