Cottage Grove, Minnesota

and emergency medical services. It was designed to fill a void in the East Metro – there is already a training facility to the north and on the other side of the Metro, so we wanted to concentrate on our area. But it will bring people in from across the region and other states and nationally.” Though the City of Cottage Grove is running the Center in partnership with neighboring Woodbury, it will have a separate staff to manage the scheduling of training cycles and administration, etc. The facility is 47,000 square feet on a nine- acre site, with two outbuildings and the grounds to be used for training, whether it is canines or fire training, so the campus will use up the entire acreage. The Center will also have training for dealing with active shooters, and a 36’ by 36’ virtual simulation room, with three screens that will make officers feel as if they’re in a situation, to see how they will handle it. When it comes to de- escalation, this simulation format is not available anywhere else in the state of Minnesota. “We’re excited to have it,” says Koerner, “because we HERO Center Training Facility HERO Center Training Facility HERO Center Training Facility Director of Public Safety, Pete Koerner