Thornton Police Department

The Thornton Police Department Shooting Range is a 10,000 sf facility that enhances officer training. It includes a 7,000 sf indoor range with 11 shooting lanes, office space, classrooms, and an armory.

Overcoming Community Concerns

With a housing development just 200 feet away, neighbors were worried that noise from shooting practices would disrupt their neighborhood and lower property values. Understanding these concerns, the O‑A‑K team worked closely with an acoustical engineer during design to test a solution that dampened the sound, ensuring training exercises wouldn’t disturb the community.

Smart Solutions to Unique Challenges

During construction, we had to install a sanitary sewer line, but open digging would have disrupted K-9 training. To keep operations running smoothly, our team bored 185 feet under the K-9 training yard to tie into the sanitary sewer system, ensuring the facility remained fully functional throughout the project. Given the site’s expansive soil conditions, O‑A‑K implemented a drilled pier foundation with a structural slab and an underground plumbing void system to prevent movement and maintain stability over time.

Precision and Protection in Every Detail

Ventilation was another key focus, and O‑A‑K installed large ground-mounted HVAC equipment to maintain airflow. Great care went into positioning the lighting fixtures and range target equipment to protect them during live fire exercises.

Built to Last

Officers in training fire at both stationary and moving targets, with rounds landing in a steel bullet trap layered with three feet of granulated rubber. Every four feet of the trap is designed to absorb 100,000 rounds, and at full capacity, it can hold 1.5 million rounds. To ensure proper upkeep, O‑A‑K trained the City on maintaining the bullet trap, which will require periodic cleaning by a hazardous materials company.

From start to finish, the O‑A‑K team worked through complex site conditions, coordinated multiple moving parts, and delivered a cutting-edge training facility that met the needs of the police department while respecting the surrounding community.