The Honolulu Police Department hopes a new indoor firing range will improve the accuracy of the agency's 2,000 or so officers.

So far, the construction timetable and costs for the new facility are way off the mark.

Construction of the facility, which is being built at the Honolulu Police Training Academy in Waipahu, started in October 2004 and was to be completed in April 2006 at a cost of $5.9 million. Today, the facility's total cost has soared to nearly $10.4 million and the range hasn't opened because of ventilation problems, according to city budget documents and testimony.

Despite those cost overruns, the bill for the firing range is likely to rise further. The city has identified $2.8 million more in costs to cover construction of classrooms, office space and other features that were supposed to be included at the facility.

Whenever it opens, the 22,325-square-foot range is expected to provide the agency with a more convenient and efficient alternative to the outdoor range near Koko Head. HPD shares a portion of that range with the public and other law enforcement agencies. However, the Koko Head range, which is about 30 miles from Waipahu, can't be used at night or in inclement weather.

Additionally, the federal government is requiring increased annual training and certification for HPD officers. Those requirements can't be met using the Koko Head range alone, said Maj. Frank Fujii, department spokesman.

The indoor firing range "will allow us to better train our officers more frequently," he said. "It will allow us to be much more efficient because we can call guys off the road now and they can qualify in a much shorter period of time versus just having to spend a whole day out at the (Koko Head) range."

HPD has wanted a range for its exclusive use for nearly 20 years, Fujii said.

OPENING UNCLEAR

Just when the 30-lane firing range will open remains unclear. Construction was substantially completed in October. However, in January, operations at the indoor range were canceled when a live-fire demonstration caused the building to fill with smoke. That led to concerns about whether the facility was safe to use.

Further analysis was delayed because of the need to ship specialized testing equipment into Honolulu. Recent testing suggests that armor plating hanging from the firing range ceiling was interrupting proper airflow, Clifford Lau, chief of the facilities division of the Department of Design and Construction, said in recent budget testimony. The department thinks it has now fixed the problem.

"That was done for a very nominal cost but it made some dramatic improvement in the (air) circulation patterns," Lau said. "At this point, it doesn't appear that we have to make any major changes to the mechanical systems in the building."

The range could open for operations sometime this summer depending on the results of a live-fire test scheduled for next month, Lau said.

It's still unclear why the firing range so far has cost twice as much as planned and is three years behind schedule. HPD declined a request for access to the $10 million facility and the agency referred questions about cost overruns to the city's Department of Design and Construction. Craig Nishimura, the department's director, did not return repeated messages concerning the indoor firing range.

In 2002, the City Council allocated $5.95 million to build the firing range as well as accompanying space for classrooms, simulations, storage and maintenance.

SPACE DELETED

So far, nearly $10.4 million has been spent on the indoor firing range and another $2.8 million is still needed to build the classrooms, storage and office space that was deleted from the original plans, according to a recent city budget request.

Nestor Garcia, City Council budget committee chairman and Waipahu representative, was not available to comment for this story.

According to city records there were at least five change orders relating to the firing range that added $557,428 to the cost of the project. Those expenses include:

• Adding baffles to protect the roof from stray bullets.

• Paying Board of Water Supply service charges that weren't accounted for in the construction contract.

• Paying an engineer to analyze unstable soil conditions on the construction site.

Council member Duke Bainum said the city needs to explain why those and other issues caused the project's high costs and long delays.

"Obviously, we want our police to be the best trained in the country and we'll give them whatever resources they need because their lives are on the line," he said. "(But) this should have been done on time and on budget. We were supposed to get it for $6 million; now we're looking at $10 million.

"It's going to be $14 million to $16 million by my guess before it's over and it's years late and there's no explanation."