Police academy suffers from mold, lead in water

Several reported ringworm cases also may be linked to temporary facility

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Mold problems and lead in the water at the Prince George’s police academy building have officials counting down the days until a better, permanent location is found.

‘‘It was always temporary,” said police spokeswoman Sharon Taylor of the building. ‘‘No one anywhere possibly believed we would jeopardize our people.”

Several instructors and students have contracted ringworm during their time at the temporary facility located in an old elementary school in Seat Pleasant. However, officials are unsure if the ringworm, a contagious skin infection caused by fungus, was contracted in the facility or elsewhere.

Taylor said the department is looking to start moving the academy within 90 days, although she would not reveal where the new building is located. Though the department would not confirm it, union president Percy Alston said police are considering the former Giant corporate offices on Sheriff Road in Landover for the next location.

The department moved in August from a smaller building in Upper Marlboro to accommodate the larger class sizes arriving as a result of the countywide recruiting push. Taylor said at the time, the classes sizes were doubling from 50 to more than 100 recruits in training.

Contamination testing was done at the building prior to the move in, but classes began before the results were returned. Taylor said the results came in around late September, showing there was mold in certain areas, roof leaks and lead in the water.

The department responded by replacing the showers and providing bottled water.

‘‘Everything that they required of us was implemented,” Taylor said.

But union vice president Vince Canales said he could actually smell the mold in the building, and Alston said they have been complaining about the facility ever since the department located there.

Alston said the ringworm cases only came within the last couple months.

Neither the union nor the police department could say whether those individuals contracted the illness from fungus in the building, or from someone else in the facility who already contracted the illness elsewhere.

According to the police department, the individuals who contracted ringworm have since sought treatment.

Alston agreed the old building in Upper Marlboro was too small, and said the next facility will be better.

‘‘It looks like it’s going to be a facility we can set up and really make it a decent facility,” Alston said. ‘‘It’ll be large enough to handle the new classes coming in ... you’re going to have over 200 students, and that’s very, very, very difficult to manage.”

E-mail Judson Berger atjberger@gazette.net.