St. Martinville – Sheriff Becket Breaux and the St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Office held ribbon cutting ceremonies for a regional training center this past Thursday, marking the culmination of a facility that broke ground in December 2024.
“Behind me is a new training facility,” Breaux said. “We’ve been in the other one since 2001. This is a new training facility because I believe we’re growing. Our agencies are growing. And we want to be professional.
“When you see a police officer, you want to know that he went to the best academy, (got) the best training we can offer.”
The project received $3.1 million in funding, largely from the state, and came in under that budget thanks to costsaving measures, the sheriff said.
Breaux credited former state Rep. Mike Huval and Sen. Fred Mills for helping get the facility done.
Huval said that while serving in the legislature, he was asked one year if he had made all the requests he needed to make for his constituents for capital outlay funding. Huval called Breaux to ask if there was anything he wanted to see funded, and the sheriff mentioned the training center.
Huval got approval for the request for funding but told the sheriff he’d have to turn in the required documentation for the request in 12 hours, which the sheriff did, crediting his staff for their work in getting it done in less than
(Chris Landry) eight hours. The state capital outlay funding for the project came to $2.4 million, the sheriff said.
Training
“There’s so many people we want to thank,” Breaux said. “First, I want to thank you, the people of St. Martin Parish. Thanks for trusting us and thanks for putting us at the top of your list, at the top of your priorities for public safety.”
Breaux said the Sheriff’s Office is planning to invest $10 million in the next year for training for its law enforcement partners. No other law enforcement facility in the state outside the state police is making that kind of investment, he said.
Breaux said a new driving track behind the training facility will be completed within the next year, and it will be one of the largest driving tracks in the state, about the same size as 11 football fields.
The new facility has advanced visual and audio technology equipment featured in each of its five training rooms.
According to a press release from the sheriff’s office, a multi-purpose main room has five large display monitors and is equipped with sound devices and microphones. The room seats about 150 people and can serve as an Emergency Operations Center, a large training room, conference room, etc.
Two large training rooms each have three large display monitors and are equipped with sound devices and microphones. Each room seats about 50 people. For about 32 weeks out of the year, one of the two training rooms will house a regional police academy.
The two standard size training rooms each have two large display monitors and will seat about 24 people. These rooms are used for training courses that purposely have a lower number of attendees.
The facility has a kitchen/ dining area, restrooms with multiple showers, Wi-Fi and an administrative wing.
Captain Ross Stevens is the commander of the training academy.
There are currently two in-house certified physical training instructors at the training center.
For continuing education purposes, the Regional Law Enforcement Training Academy has collaborated with training companies throughout the state and nationwide to deliver instructor training, advanced training and continuing education courses to ensure parish deputies and any other law enforcement officers have the opportunity to advance in their career.
“As you can guess, nothing likes this happens without a vision,” Stevens said. “I personally thank Sheriff Breaux for having that vision and keeping that vision.
“There are a lot of agencies that send their cadets to us and expect, for lack of better words, a product, a good product, someone who can go out there and help serve their communities. It takes a great staff to do all these things.
“We strive for excellence. We tell the cadets when they come here for this academy training, when you leave here after 16 weeks you will have earned that certificate.”
The facility also can be used for public purposes, Breaux said.
“It’s a great facility,” he said. “It’s not just for law enforcement, this facility is going to be for you. If you want to have some type of event, get with Ross and we’re going to have it here, because I think it’s important to share the assets of this parish with you. You paid for it. The people of St. Martin Parish paid for this building.”
