With everything under one roof in the new Protective Services building, students and instructors can make it to their next class without having to drive across town. The $14.2 million building already has 650 students using it this semester.

State-of-the-art technology can be found throughout the building, some which isn’t found anywhere else.

A comprehensive fire simulation program that is one of only 10 in the country trains fire academy students in real-life situations.

A new 3-D shooting simulator prepares students in the Law Enforcement Academy for real-life situations. It is so realistic that during some excercises, people have had beads of sweat on their forheads, and some have even completely frozen up. The simuation weapons have a kickback that is simular to the real thing. There are 400 scenarios, each with different variations.

There are various labs with simulation patients that are fully reactory, with eye movement, blood pressure and giving birth to a simulation baby.

One of the simulation labs for paramedic students can turn into a nightclub with flashing lights, loud music and an angry club manager. The instructors in the labs control the simulation patients from laptops, which give them access to create almost any emergency health situation.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony on Feb. 20 actually included three ribbon cuttings. The Law Enforcement Academy cut crime-scene tape, the Paramedic Program used gauze and EMT sheers, and the Fire Academy disconnected fire hose.

Dean Rick Raemisch said the greatest part of it all is having the best tools out there to give the men and women that come through the buildings.

“They enter here as students and graduate as heroes,” he said.