Charlotte City Council on Monday night approved spending $1 million to buy a building for a new police training facility. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department wants to put the building at the current police academy property on Shopton Road in southwest Charlotte.
The facility would be used for de-escalation training for officers. The department announced earlier this year that it had revamped its policies to emphasize how officers can avoid using force in many situations, including a written definition of de-escalation.
"A part of our training has always been we’re trying to get time, distance, and cover, so we can slow things down," CMPD Chief Kerr Putney said then. "It has been a part of how we do business. This is the first time, though, we’ve been challenged to articulate that. So it’s in writing and we have to stand by it, and the community can hold us accountable to it."
Council also approved a $664,000 business investment grant for Microsoft.
The tech giant last month announced plans for a nearly $24 million expansion in Charlotte that’s expected to create 430 jobs by 2023. The company also could get $8.5 million in state incentives if it meets job-creation and investment goals. Microsoft already has more than 1,100 workers at its facility on Arrowood Road.