Brown County Sheriff looks at options for obsolete shooting range

GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) - A piece of Brown County history is showing its age along with the spaces inside.

County leaders picked up where they left off at the end of the 2019, talking about security measures at the Brown County Courthouse.

Part of the conversation also includes the Brown County Sheriff’s Office’s shooting range.

It was built in the 1980s and now sits below the District Attorney’s Office. The range has been rendered obsolete.

“It’s something that we knew was getting near the end of life,” said Sheriff Todd Delain. “What we found is that the current air cleansing system, taking the lead out of the air from shooting, no longer is adequate.”

Sheriff Delain says the department had to stop using it at the beginning of 2021, but its current design is also problematic for training.

“In the 1980s you had ranges that were straight line ranges that were smaller. You go and you shoot straight, and you don’t do anything else that we would currently do on a range, which is talk about de-escalation and using other tools that we might have available to use to solve a situation,” said Sheriff Delain.

Brown County along with other law enforcement agencies have used outdoor ranges like the Sanger Powers Shooting Range in Oneida. However, that range also has limitations from scheduling conflicts, to having to rely on the weather.

It has left Sheriff Delain weighing all options including partnering with area colleges, a private company, or coming up with something else altogether to make sure deputies get the proper training.

“If we’re going to update the range and come up with something else, we want it to be something that better serves law enforcement of today and hopefully for a significant period of time in the future,” said Sheriff Delain.

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