Not even a morning snowstorm could prevent the long-awaited celebratory ground breaking of the Douglas County Emergency Vehicle Operations Center (EVOC), Phase One, off Highway 85 and Moore Road, north of Castle Rock.
With shovels in hand and a $3.3 million donation from RE/MAX International Founders Dave and Gail Liniger, law enforcement agencies and others charged with delivery of public safety services are now one step closer to much needed driver training.
Phase One construction will include a 9.2 acre asphalt skill pad and a 1.8 acre gravel skill pad as well as a 1.6 mile road course. Training at the EVOC will emphasize driver decision making; safe pursuit driving and pursuit termination; communication while driving; low speed skills; day and night driving, inclement weather skills; handling and transition to differing road surfaces; some high speed skills; understanding vehicle dynamics and limitations.
“Over the last 35 years, traffic-related incidents have moved near the top of the list a leading cause of death of officers in law enforcement each year,” said Tony Spurlock, Douglas County Sheriff. “Douglas County Sheriff’s Office staff must drive to provide core services, regardless of weather, and on a variety of road surfaces daily, totaling about 3.5 million miles per year,” he said.
Beginning in the late 1980’s, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, as well as other local law enforcement and public works agencies, used an abandoned residential neighborhood southwest of Castle Rock for driver training. In 2013 after deterioration of roads made the conditions unsafe for training, the streets were closed.
In 2014 Douglas County purchased the 295 acres of land along Moore Road. Approximately 80 acres of the 295 acres of the land along Moore Road will be used as part of Phase One EVOC construction.
The facility is expected to open in July 2017.