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MEMORANDUM <br /> <br />TO: <br /> <br />FROM: <br /> <br />SUBJECT: <br /> <br />Dan Collins <br />City Manager <br /> <br />Mike Rogers <br />Police Chief <br /> <br />CITY'S FIRING RANGE <br /> <br />The Marfinsville Police Department's pistol/rifle range is located south of Martinsville in Henry <br />County within the City Industrial Park. The original facility was built around 1961and consisted of <br />three, sixty-yard maximum distance firing lanes. In 1981 the range was significantly upgraded and <br />expanded to 7 shooting lanes and a one hundred yard rifle lane. <br /> <br />Use of the range is restricted to sworn police officers employed by the Martinsville Police <br />Department, Martinsville Sheriff's Department, and any police officer attending training at the <br />Piedmont Regional Police Academy. <br /> <br />Firearms safety is our number one priority at the range and to this date, we have never had any <br />shooting accident. Although there have been a few citizen complaints about the noise during our <br />night firing, up until recently, we have never had any complaints concerning the safety of the <br />range. We have never had any shooting accident at the range or incident where someone <br />complained of a stray bullet. <br /> <br />Immediately following the recent citizen complaint concerning the noise from our night firing <br />we decided to schedule all of our future night firing training during the winter months when it <br />begins getting dark at 5:00 p.m. We will not be having any night firing past 9:00 p.m. <br /> <br />I remain convinced the design of our range makes it as safe as any other firearms range I have <br />ever been to and my recommendation to city council is that we continue to use the range. MZM <br />officials have recently indicated a strong interest in joining with the city to help fund and build a <br />larger range, which we codld better train our officers and also allow them access to test some of <br />the weapons associated with their future business contracts. <br /> <br />There is presently an excellent section of land at the landfill we could use to build a state of the <br />art firearms range. Building the range would not be possible until he landfill is closed in the <br />Spring of 2006. <br /> <br /> <br />