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also. After that the Firing Range Committee was formed, and Major Raymond spoke of the difficulties they have encountered in trying diligently over the past 5 years to find a location for a firing range that would be suitable both for law enforcement and civilian purposes. He advised that at the last meeting of the committee, it was agreed there was a dire need for the Sheriff to obtain a range. Major Raymond then spoke in detail of the Sheriff's problems in trying to schedule time for his personnel at other facilities as set out in the following excerpts from his letter of March 20th to Commissioner Bird: 11 This morning the Indian River County Sheriff's Department was contacted by the Vero Beach Police Department and advised that we are to immediately cease using their range for any training purposes. Their representative, Detective Frank DeVencenzo, advised us that they had brought a representative from the National Rifle Association in to inspect the range and it was dangerous for the use of any rifle or shotgun training and was marginal for any other type of firearm. They stated that for this reason that no other agency or person would be allowed to use their range other than the Vero Beach Police Department. Under our present training schedule, in order to meet minimum basic requirements, we must utilize some type of firearms range for a minimum of 2,448 man hours per year. This amount of training covers only basic firearms qualifications and excludes Emergency Response Team training, special scenario training and civilian sponsored training courses, which are presently being conducted on a minimum of once a month. Upon learning of this problem, I contacted Assistant Superintendent Tommy Douberley of the Indian River Correctional . Institution range, in an attempt to assess the availability of that facility. Presently, in addition to training their personnel, this range is also used by Florida Corrections Academy, Indian River Community College, U. S. Coast Guard, Internal Revenue Service, Florida Peace Officers Association and the Governor's 20 Pistol Matches. As you can see this range is already over crowded . and is scheduled on a first come first serve basis. In addition to this, I was advised that utilizing this range on a minimum of 2,000 to 3,000 per year would have a large maintenance impact on their facility and would require some type of monetary concession to aid in the upkeep of that facility. IP Major Raymond stressed that if the Sheriff has to continue to train his personnel on either the Correctional Institution's range or the St. Lucie County Sheriff's range, if it is possible to secure the time needed at those ranges, it would require $50,820 in overtime expenditures, and that figure coupled with travel and vehicle usage could well exceed $60,000 in the coming year. If the Sheriff's Department had their own range and could schedule on -duty training days, the figure for overtime expenditures could be reduced by at least two thirds. He then 19 a'1 4_ 1989 BOOK 76 PAGE 503