The Village of Ridgewood is looking into the development of an indoor firearms range for its police department on a village-owned property in Glen Rock. As of now, Glen Rock citizens have not been included in any discussions about said range. As a citizen of Glen Rock, I believe the town should be kept updated on the action that the mayor’s office of Ridgewood takes for the firearms range since it will be a municipal property outside of Ridgewoods natural border. 

Ridgewood police officers currently practice at the Waldwick police pistol range and the Bergen County outdoor range located in Mahwah. They also have an agreement with Wood-Ridge to use their facilities for annual firearms qualifications. But, it has become difficult to secure time slots at these ranges as other law enforcement agencies suffer the same issue: lack of their own personal firearms range. As local firearms ranges have closed the overall demand for them has increased, putting pressure on local town and Bergen County ranges. This leads to the conclusion of Ridgewood building its own facility.

The prospected property for the range is a 19-acre plot of land neighboring the Ridgewood Water Pollution Control site next to the Glen Rock Duck Pond. It’s a wooded area with few houses surrounding it, which makes it an ideal spot for the range.

I support all law enforcement agencies and I believe they deserve the best facilities and equipment possible this includes a proper firearms range which they can use whenever. I believe that it is in Ridgewoods best interest to include Glen Rockers into the discussion since the supposed range will be built in Glen Rock. Not only do Glen Rockers need to be let in the discussion but the property should be a shared facility of both the Glen Rock and Ridgewood Police departments, as of now, very little information is given about that but I believe this is a key position that Ridgewood should take up, that this municipal facility will be used equally by both agencies.