Training hub named for police veterans

Training hub named for police veterans
Article Launched: 05/30/2008

A state-of-the-art training facility for peace officers and a nearby thoroughfare were dedicated Thursday in the name of two Fairfield police veterans.

The facility, which consists of 49,000 square feet of training space, boasts a 20-lane, 25-yard pistol range; a six-lane,100-yard rifle range; a 3,200-square-foot mat room for weaponless defense training; multiple classrooms that can accommodate up to 100 students; a simulator training center with three driving simulators and one force-option simulator; and a 20-seat conference room.

The long-awaited building was named for fallen Sgt. Art Koch, the only Fairfield officer in history to die in the line of duty.

Koch died July 29, 1984, a day after being shot by a Vietnam veteran who is now serving a life sentence in prison without the possibility of parole.

The Fairfield Police/Art Koch Training Facility sits at 1717 Rex Clift Lane. The lane is named in memory of Fairfield's first police chief. Clift served the department from 1943 to 1958.