Regional Patrol Tactics Trainings Continue At Grace City Church, For Now
Although Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison said he'd be open to moving the trainings to another location if possible, stresses the need for dedicated public facility
The Chelan County Sheriff’s Office got calls this week from concerned citizens who wanted to know what was going on at Grace City Church’s compound in the affluent Sunnyslope neighborhood of Wenatchee.
“Does anyone have any information on what happened at Grace City church off Melody Lane about an hour ago? Drove past and saw a man on the floor with his gun in hand in the parking lot and about 6 officers with firearms directed at the man. Can’t stop thinking if someone got hurt,” wrote Maria Clamp in a Wenatchee Valley Facebook group Tuesday.
Law enforcement agencies from across the region have been using GCC’s compound for patrol tactics training since 2021. I wrote about that early last year.
GCC offered its compound free of charge back when former Chelan County Sheriff and prominent GCC member Brian Burnett was still at the helm. Last November Burnett lost his reelection bid to current Sheriff Mike Morrison (an election I covered extensively). The new sheriff says he’s aware of citizens’ alarm about his agency’s perceived connections to GCC.
“I do get the concerns,” Morrison said. “But there should be no question about who’s calling the shots.”
Chelan County Sheriff’s Office is an independent agency and Grace City Church in no way dictates the decisions or policies of him as an elected official. He said his allegiance lies with the citizens of Chelan County.
The contract for regional agencies to train at GCC is currently set (there’s another training planned in the fall) but they would be open to moving the trainings somewhere else if possible, he said.
“They are being polite and letting us use the facility for free,” Morrison said. “I appreciate that and don’t take it for granted. But we can’t rely on the generosity of our community. We need our own regional facility we’re all invested in.”
That means other counties, law enforcement agencies, as well as state and federal officials getting on board with the idea of funding a regional facility for North Central Washington. Spokane and the Tri-Cities just finished building their own regional LEO training facilities. Spokane’s cost $40 million.
Morrison said he spoke with Congresswoman Kim Schrier and Congressman Dan Newhouse both about the need for a dedicated North Central Washington regional law enforcement training facility and made the case for receiving federal funding to help build it.
“But we also need community buy-in,” he said.
It’s needed, but realistically a project of that size could be years away, Morrison admits. In the meantime, his administration is in talks with Wenatchee Valley College to use that campus when the general public isn’t on the premises.
Alarming the public is a concern, he said. He said he understands why people would wonder what is going on if they’re driving by Grace City Church and see six law enforcement officers pointing their guns at a man on the ground in the parking lot.
There is signage on Melody Lane to let people know law enforcement training is taking place, he said.
The next regional PTI training at Grace City Church will be taking place from Oct. 16 to Oct. 18 of this year. I suggest Chelan County and GCC let the public know about it ahead of time.
A very hard no on a regional training facility. The community has so many needs, building a training compound should not be a consideration. Morrison did a good job using his voice here to make it an either/or proposition. The region is packed with underutilized parking lots, they don't need to use GCC's compound , and they don't need to build their own. With funding crises for housing, healthcare, education, etc., building a training facility for law enforcement would be a disgrace.
Not a good look, Sheriff Mike! Disappointing to say the least.