The Oakdale Police Department shooting range on Liberini Avenue is finally getting some much-needed improvements and upgrades that will elevate the facility to current training standards and increase training efficiency.

The cost to the upgrade rings in at $56,000, most of which was paid for by leasing out the range for training purposes to outside agencies, and the improvements will be completed in approximately a month.

According to Oakdale Police Chief Jerry Ramar, the overdue upgrades will enable the officers to train with more realistic scenarios, which helps officers respond to potentially dangerous situations more professionally.

“When you train officers in a more realistic setting and scenario, you get a better trained officer,” Ramar explained. “That’s what we’re looking to do — just have a more professionally trained police force so they can respond. The training develops the response to the community.”

The last time the training range saw any kind of upgrade was in 2003, which included the installation of tires along the retaining wall as a safety measure but the tires were removed in 2015 when it was discovered the tires were becoming a safety hazard.

“The tires were shot so much that they actually started leaning towards the range floor ... if they were to fall on anybody, it would have crushed them,” Ramar shared.

When the tires were removed, the berms were built up over 20 feet high to create an additional level of safety for the community and another company was hired to come in and periodically collect the lead bullets, which had been impossible with the former tire design.

The new design will also allow for vehicle training, which wasn’t possible with the former range layout.

“We will be able to drive out like we’re actually responding to something,” Ramar said. “We’ll be able to do some scenario-based training where we can incorporate the vehicles, and the motorcycles, whereas before we couldn’t. It was more of a liability than it was an advantage so now we’re turning it into an advantage. We don’t have to worry so much about the range floor hazards, which is more in line with what the officers do on a daily basis.”

The range will feature artificial turf walkways, a concrete walkway, and a center walkway wide enough to accommodate vehicles.

“It’s just a better design all the way around,” Ramar said. “It’s going to be exciting when it’s done.”