Bauer Plummer Public Safety Training Center

Level-1 delivered mission-critical infrastructure for a citywide training campus uniting Chicago’s fire, police, and EMS operations.

In West Garfield Park, a long-disinvested part of Chicago’s West Side, The Bauer Plummer Public Safety Training Center is a new $170 million joint public safety training center– a statement of both readiness and reinvestment. More than a facility, it is a civic engine designed to bring together police, fire, and emergency medical services into one unified campus for advanced, scenario-based training. 

Spanning 30.4 acres, the campus consolidates fragmented training operations into a single site that includes classrooms, simulators, administrative hubs, driving courses, a skid pad, a dedicated shooting range, and a rescue pool, so that Chicago’s first responders can train not just in isolation, but in coordinated, real-world simulations that demand interagency fluency and situational speed. 

Even before the initial design was finalized, the City of Chicago moved to expand the facility’s scope to include EMS training enabling paramedics to train alongside police officers and firefighters in a fully collaborative environment. The facility was also designed to serve as a national training destination, welcoming first responders from across the country in coordination with CPD and the Chicago Fire Department.  

Local leadership has recognized the project’s civic and spatial significance. As Alderman Emma Mitts of the 37th Ward noted:  

“The thousands of first responders reporting there for training every day will not only drive economic and community development throughout the neighborhood but also add a big public safety presence to our streets, giving children and families more confidence as they travel about their lives.” 

For a site of this complexity, systems design is not supplementary, it is foundational. 

Level-1 Global Solutions, as part of AECOM’s design-build team, is responsible for designing the critical technology infrastructure that makes the entire facility operational.

Our Scope Includes 

• Low-voltage systems for data, voice, and video 
• Comprehensive physical security systems across buildings and outdoor training zones 
• Radio integration and signal coordination with the Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC) 
• Uninterruptible power supply and generator backup to ensure round-the-clock operational resilience 
• Audiovisual (A/V) systems, including high-resolution display infrastructure, integrated classroom and field simulation AV, control systems, and instructor interface design 
• Interoperability between departments, enabling seamless cross-training and multi-agency response simulation 

The facility is designed not only to support Chicago’s evolving public safety strategy, but also to drive economic and civic life in West Garfield Park. Thousands of police officers, firefighters, and paramedics will move through this campus each year. Their ability to train at the highest standard depends on the quality, durability, and responsiveness of the systems we design.  

Level-1’s role is not about outfitting a facility. It’s about aligning infrastructure with mission, so the built environment performs under pressure, at scale, and in service of public trust.