For FBI and Police—

Forced-Entry Training Program Slated For Fairfield Hills

By Andrew Gorosko

Before the wrecking ball swings to demolish some of the aging masonry buildings at Fairfield Hills, federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies plan to use the site for some practical training on how to best make forced entries at such massively built structures.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, state police, and town police next week plan to participate in “breacher training” at the complex, where initial construction started about 75 years ago.

Police Chief Michael Kehoe said that between Monday, May 2, and Thursday, May 5, from about 8 am to 5 pm each day, members of the three law enforcement agencies will be undergoing training in the analytical and physical aspects of such forced entries. Consequently, sections of the Fairfield Hills core campus may be closed to the public for periods of time during that training.

The wide variety of doorways, portals, and entry points in the old buildings offer many opportunities for breached-entry training, the police chief said.

Until December 1995, Fairfield Hills served as a state psychiatric hospital. Such facilities’ construction is similar to that of low-security prisons.

In August 2004, the town purchased Fairfield Hills’ 189-acre core campus and many massive buildings from the state for $3.9 million. Several of the aging structures are scheduled for demolition.

The training program, which is being sponsored by the FBI, will instruct its participants in “dynamic entries,” Chief Kehoe said of the various ways in which force may be used by police to gain entry for tactical advantage.

The program will provide both technical training and practical training in forced entries, he said. Such techniques are used by law enforcement agencies’ tactical squads in emergencies.

Chief Kehoe said the training program will not involve forced entries within Fairfield Hills’ tunnel network. The entryways to the tunnel have been sealed off for security reasons. The tunnel network was built to simplify the transport of patients and materials among the many buildings at the complex.

Newtown Police Sergeant Douglas Wisentaner is supervising the forced-entry training program for Newtown police.