Dakota County Sheriff's Department to Train at Gander Mountain Academy in Lakeville

Editor’s Note: The following is a press release from a public relations firm representing Gander Mountain.

As municipal budgets are being slashed and local governments are being forced to do more with less, Dakota County has found a way to provide better training for law enforcement while saving taxpayer dollars. After a recent agreement with Gander Mountain Law Enforcement Sales, members of the Dakota County Sherriff’s Office will begin training next month at Minnesota’s only Gander Mountain Academy, located in Lakeville.

“The nation’s six Gander Mountain Academy locations feature the most advanced technology available for firearms safety training, and Dakota County is the most recent law enforcement agency to come on board,” said Chris Juelich, national director of Gander Mountain Academy. “As the nation’s largest retailer of firearms, it’s our duty to provide customers and law enforcement with opportunities for top-level training, to help ensure that guns are handled safely and properly. We’re honored to welcome Dakota County to our Lakeville academy.”

Law enforcement professionals from Dakota County will spend significant time training on the academy’s 300-degree and 180-degree simulators. The technology utilizes standard-issue firearms which have been modified and fitted with laser firing systems. They provide the feel, weight and recoil of a pistol or shotgun without releasing a projectile.

Officers will experience the ultimate in full-immersion virtual reality training, surrounded by five 8' x 10' video screens, and facing scenarios where threats can approach from all sides. The scenarios are judgment based self-defense situations, designed to improve decision making skills, advanced marksmanship training and competition. Law enforcement agencies also have special access to more advanced video scenarios designed to call upon their experience and decision-making skills. Those scenarios are unavailable to the general public.

“Since the first Gander Mountain Academy opened a year ago in Lake Mary, Florida, law enforcement agencies from around the nation have found top-level instruction and technology is available for their use, along with state-of-the-art live fire shooting ranges,” said Jon Nysse, director of Gander Mountain Law Enforcement Sales. “Public savings are considerable, as agencies can rent academy time for much less than it costs to hire independent instructors and maintain publicly-owned training facilities.”

Dakota County Sheriff Dave Bellows said Gander Mountain provides training for law enforcement officers which combines improving basic firearms skills in a range setting and responding to real-life situations in a simulated environment.