Inside the $11.5M facility set to modernize the SPVM’s training

Montreal police (SPVM) are opening a new integrated training centre in Anjou. The $11.5-million facility will train about 1,500 officers a year, with capacity to reach 2,500 in the first 18 months.

It brings under one roof training that was previously spread across 23 locations, including firearms ranges, simulators, canine training, tactical exercises and classrooms — helping to prepare officers for today’s challenges.

The centre will host as many as 300 officers a day, supported by more than 300 staff and instructors. Training will cover everything from defensive tactics and crisis intervention to drone operations.

“What we want to do is adapt to society, adapt to what’s going on outside,” said Inspector Martin Montour of the training division. “We want to provide facilities where officers can train as close as possible to reality.”

Montour added the modular design allows for quick changes to keep scenarios fresh.

“If we want to have three apartments with one corridor, the next day it’s going to be two apartments with one corridor, so we can modulate our facility. We have more realism,” he said.

SPVM Chief Fady Dagher said the site is designed to make training more efficient.

“An officer can be trained on the simulation of gunfire, how to patrol, how to move and make tactical decisions, all in the same place,” he said.

Montreal executive committee member, Alain Vaillancourt, responsible for public security, said the real-life simulations show what police officers face daily.

“The more they can go through the training, the more routine it can get for them, and the better served people will be. There will be less incidents,” he said.

The centre is also home to the École nationale de police du Québec, which invested $1.5 million in the project. Its Montreal campus will offer investigative training, continuing education and crisis management courses starting this fall.

Officials say the facility is designed to maximize every training hour by rotating officers quickly through different simulations. Montour noted it eliminates the time lost to travel between sites.

“Before, people would travel half an hour to a training facility and half an hour back. That’s an hour we weren’t training,” he said. “Now we begin and end our shifts here, so there’s less waiting time.”

From mock apartments to mini-city streets, officials say the Anjou facility is designed to prepare officers for today’s policing challenges.