The Wake County Firearms Education and Training Center was abruptly and unceremoniously closed to ALL public use effective 1/15/2020. Fortunately, it has re-opened. Let's keep this unique facility open and available to the people of Wake County to whom it was dedicated!
You
are receiving this email because your are either a member or student at Wake
County Firearms Education and Training Center.
As
you probably know by now, earlier this week the Wake County Sheriff notified
Range Safety Management, operators of the public range activities, their intent
to terminate their contract as of January 15, 2020. This action
effectively closed Wake County Firearms Education and Training Center to the
public.
When
this occurred, a group of committed individuals came together and began a
campaign to keep the range open to the public. Over this past week there
has been a lot of action, including a petition on Change.Org and conversations with both the Wake
County Manager and the Chairman of the Wake County Commissioners. It
appears that the hard work as paid off as late yesterday afternoon we received
an email from the Chairman stating that Wake County is taking control of the
facility back from the Wake County Sheriff.
The
email further stated: "The
firearms facility and training center was built with taxpayer dollars by Wake
County Government for its use by law-abiding gun owners and law enforcement
professionals. It is a community asset and Wake County commissioners and staff
will work to ensure that the facility is again made available for the
community’s use as soon as possible."
While
at this time we do not know the final outcome, we are hopeful that a quick
resolution is in hand. As additional information becomes available, we
will send it out. In the meantime, if you have not signed the petition on
Change.Org,
please click on the link below and do so.
Also,
take a moment to reach out with a thank you email to Greg Ford, Chairman, Wake
County Board of Commissioners. He has been extremely supportive and we
would like to show our appreciation. His email is Greg.Ford@wakegov.com.
This
afternoon, Wake County Manager David Ellis notified Sheriff Gerald
Baker that the County will revert control of operations of the Wake
County firing range and training center back to the County. In this
afternoon’s memo, Manager Ellis assured Sheriff Baker that County staff
will work closely with the Sheriff’s Office to ensure a smooth
transition for the County-owned building. Officers will continue to have
access to the training facility in the interim for skills development.
Since the Sheriff dismissed the vendor with the contract to operate the
center for the public, Wake County staff and the Board of Commissioners
will review options for reinstating public access as soon as possible.
The Board will review these option at an upcoming meeting early in the
new year, once details are available.
The firearms facility and
training center was built with taxpayer dollars by Wake County
Government for its use by law-abiding gun owners and law enforcement
professionals. It is a community asset and Wake County commissioners and
staff will work to ensure that the facility is again made available for
the community’s use as soon as possible.
“Wake County to take control of shooting range from Sheriff’s Office”
Wake County will take control of the county’s firearms training center away from the Wake County Sheriff’s Office.
The
county will determine the “appropriate balance of use between the
public and law enforcement,” according to a memo sent to Sheriff Gerald
Baker Friday afternoon from Wake County Manager David Ellis.
“We will work with you and your staff on a transition plan to ensure law
enforcement has the appropriate use of and continued access to this
facility for training purposes,” the memo said.
“We
will work with you and your staff on a transition plan to ensure law
enforcement has the appropriate use of and continued access to this
facility for training purposes,” the memo said.
The Sheriff’s Office abruptly ended its contract
with Range Safety Management (RSM) because of the company’s “lack of
profitability” and cash handling concerns, according to a Wednesday news
release from the Sheriff’s Office. RSM manages the part of the center
that is open to the public.
More than 5,000 people signed a petition to keep the center open to the public.
Moving too quickly?
The
chairman of the Wake County commissioners says Sheriff Gerald Baker
acted too hastily in announcing a plan to close the county’s firearms
training center to the public.
“It’s
important to note that the county owns the facility, and the Sheriff’s
Office operates it,” Commissioner Greg Ford said in a statement
late Wednesday. “Based on this joint partnership, it’s reasonable to
assume that we would reach an agreement on a decision of this magnitude
together before making an announcement. That was not the case
(Wednesday).”
There
was a 2008 agreement between the county and the Sheriff’s Office
stating the sheriff would oversee the management of the firearms center
even though the county owns the property. Friday’s memo states the
county will now oversee the management of the center.
“The
Sheriff’s Office is, essentially, a tenant of the building the county
owns and given the tenant has canceled the contract with the vendor, and
is not acting in good faith as a partner with the county as intended,
we are reviewing all options,” Ford said Wednesday.
The Sheriff’s Office had agreed to honor classes for the public through Jan. 5.
“It
is never helpful when you are in a relationship or partnership and one
party is making a significant decision and not letting the other member
of that relationship know about it in advance or even discussing it with
us before making an announcement,” Ford said. “This is not about party
or politics, this is about public service.”
Conflicting statements
The
Sheriff’s Office’s news release stated county staff “agreed with the
decision, after reviewing what amounted to a lack of financial
stability, resulting in the sheriff’s office subsidizing the private
company’s sustainability, for the past seven years,” according to a WCSO
memo.
Ford said that is not true.
“The
sheriff’s statement clearly says there was collaboration between his
office and Wake County government staff and that is, unfortunately, not
the case,” he said.
No
Wake County staff members who “would normally be involved” were
contacted or knew closing the center to the public was a possibility,
Ford said.
In
a phone call Thursday, sheriff’s spokesperson Eric Curry said the
statement’s reference to “the decision” that county staff had agreed to
was actually about the county’s awareness of the financial concerns.
“In
the statement, it was (that) the county staff was aware of the
accounting inconsistencies, but in regard to the decision making, (the)
decision of canceling the contract was solely the sheriff’s,” Curry
said.
When
asked if county staff knew the center would be closed to the public
before the news release was sent out, Curry said the sheriff made the
decision with input from his senior staff and staff members at the
training center, but he wasn’t sure whom Baker spoke with
Ford also called the “findings” about handling money insignificant.
Wake County will close its firearms training center to the public in January.
The Wake County Sheriff’s Office ended its
contract with Range Safety Management (RSM) LLC’s because of the
company’s “lack of profitability and a review that fees and funds
collected by RSM were not accounted for accurately,” according to a
Sheriff’s Office news release Wednesday.
“To the responsible gun owners who use the
facility, I understand your concern,” Sheriff Gerald Baker said. “This
decision was not made in haste. We will continue to review how to use
this training center that works in the best interest of all citizens,
while saving taxpayer money. Unfortunately, the current agreement only
met the needs of a few.”
The Wake County Firearms Education and Training Center, located near
Holly Springs, is used by the Sheriff’s Office and other law enforcement
agencies for training, and has been open to the public for shooting and
classes.
Mark Valletta is a member of a pistol league and shoots at the range
twice a month. He started a Change.org petition demanding the center
remain open. It had gained more than 1,100 signatures in under 24 hours.
“We will have nowhere to go,” he said. “We will have to try to find other facilities, if they even exist.”
Center finances
Questions about how much money the center was
getting from the sheriff’s office and the public were not answered by
the Sheriff’s Office or the county Wednesday afternoon.
But Fred Stough, one of three partners of RSM, said the sheriff’s statement was inaccurate.
The center was opened to the public from the beginning as part of a compromise over the county’s gun ordinance
and was never meant to be profitable, he said. The county prohibits
people shooting a gun within 100 yards of a home without permission of
the homeowner and within 100 yards of a “public building” likely to be
occupied. Giving the public access to the then-new firearms center gave
people a chance to practice their shooting.
A resident has to complete a range safety class
before being allowed to shoot at one of the ranges, which include 50
yards for pistols and rifles, and 100 yards for rifles. More than 25,000
people have completed that course and become members since the range
opened in the early 2000s, Stough said.
Some people shoot regularly and others come once a year to check their rifle scopes before hunting season.
Memos sent to the Sheriff’s Office from Wake
County this summer outlined a number of concerns within the sheriff’s
department including how “both the firing range and general WCSO
offices” were not following the county’s policy of handling cash. The
sheriff’s office recently rebutted those memos with nearly 200 pages of
his own documents.
The county’s cash-handling policies were recently revamped after the former Wake County Register of Deeds was charged and found guilty of embezzling money from her department.
Wake County did have concerns about how money was
handled at the firing range, but none was ever missing, Stough said.
The firing range doesn’t have an office, and the money for classes is
collected from an off-site post office box and processed at RSM’s
office, also off-site.
“We understand they had some concerns and talked
to us about it, but they did a full accounting every month,” he said.
“There was never a nickel missing when it was supposed to be there.”
Last month a civilian firearms instructor at the center accidentally shot himself in the leg while putting his gun back into his holster, The News & Observer reported.
It was the first accident where someone was shot
in nearly 20 years, Stough said, adding he didn’t know if the incident
contributed to the sheriff ending the contract.
“It’s not a matter of if, but when there is an accident,” he said. “Firearms are dangerous.”
Future plans at the center
There is a need for more training space for
local, state and federal law enforcement agencies, according to the
Sheriff’s Office news release.
“We are living in dangerous times,” Baker said.
“We need to have an ability to provide increased training opportunities
for our officers, so that they are prepared to face the dangers that may
await them every day they protect our neighborhoods.” This year’s budget
includes $100,000 to study whether a “simulation training facility”
could be added to the Wake County Firearms Training Center.
“The Sheriff ’s Office has requested the
construction of a training facility that will allow their employees to
conduct real life training in a simulated live ammunition environment
that would include configurable interiors for various scenario
training,” according to the budget approved by commissioners this year.
Simulation buildings and projectors are
frequently used as training tools for officers, including when there is
an active shooter threat.
A “simulation building” at Wake Technical
Community College’s Public Safety Education Center was part of a $349
million bond approved by voters in 2018. Officers already use a room
that looks like an apartment to investigate mock crimes like shootings
and domestic violence crimes. Wake Tech’s proposed simulation building would
allow for a mock city with streets, first-floor apartments, kitchens,
police and fire stations, The N&O previously reported.
Read more here: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/wake-county/article238507413.html#storylink=cpy
Read more here: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/wake-county/article238507413.html#storylink=cpy
Read more here: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/wake-county/article238507413.html#storylink=cp
Read more here: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/wake-county/article238507413.html#storylink=cpy
Read more here: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/wake-county/article238507413.html#storylink=cpy