New firing range at PTRC is ready to go

It’s been in the works for more than 6 years, and in a few weeks RCMP officers will finally be moving indoors for their firearms training in Chilliwack. Construction on the new indoor range at the Pacific Regional Training Centre is complete, and RCMP Superintendent Michel Legault says they’re almost ready to move inside.

“We’re working through the business workflow of how we will operate with an indoor range now.  We expect to be fully operational by the end of September.”

He says in addition to the noise reduction in the neighborhood, which was a big issue, there are other benefits.

“The construction will permit us to do different tactical training indoors that was not an option with the outdoor setup. It’s a much bigger space.  We’re also going to be able to use different lighting situations, like low lighting…we can basically create scenarios that would normally be disturbing for people who didn’t know that it was a training exercise.”

The total cost of the project came in at a shade under $19 million, and was federally funded.