Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost cut the ribbon Wednesday on a sprawling new, climate-controlled firearms training complex at the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy in London, then grabbed a shovel for the groundbreaking of a Bureau of Criminal Investigation evidence facility that is slated to boost long-term storage for cold cases. The new indoor range covers roughly 18,000 square feet and is built for low-light practice and vehicle-involved scenarios, while the separate evidence building is set to add refrigerated storage and room for ballistics, biological and trace evidence.
As reported by Cleveland19, Yost headlined the ribbon-cutting at OPOTA’s Tactical Training Center, where the new 18,000-square-foot space is designed to let officers train year-round, day or night. "This 18,000 square facility is configured so you can have real-life movement," officials said, noting that the layout lets trainees work with moving targets and vehicle scenarios instead of firing down a static lane. Yost said the goal is to teach officers to think under stress, not just hit the bullseye.
New Evidence Building To Expand Cold-Case Storage
State filings from the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission show that the London project includes a new BCI evidence building, an approximately 6,700-square-foot storage facility intended for long-term DNA and evidence preservation. According to Cleveland19, the attorney general's office said the structure will include five freezers and is designed to preserve DNA for about 30 years, and officials expect the new space to be ready in roughly a year.
Why Officials Say It Matters
The Bureau of Criminal Investigation's laboratory division handles hundreds of thousands of evidence items each year and operates a Cold Case Unit that helps local agencies revisit unsolved homicides and sexual assaults. According to the Ohio Attorney General's Office, tighter climate control and added refrigerated storage are meant to protect fragile biological samples until modern testing methods can pull usable DNA profiles for investigations.
State filings and project solicitations describe the work as part of a multi-project package for OPOTA and BCI, and officials say the new range is already open to trainees while the evidence building moves from groundbreaking into construction. Together, the projects are intended to modernize Ohio’s forensic and training infrastructure and give local departments more support for cold cases and tactical training.
