Port Jervis police open new training facility, shooting range honoring Chief Worden

A new shooting range and training center on Towpath Road gives Port Jervis police a dedicated place to practice, train and prepare without leaving the city. The facility is now open just off Canal Street and Ryan Street, turning a long-discussed project into a working part of the department’s daily operations.

Dozens gathered for the rainy Saturday afternoon opening, including current and former officers, city leaders, county and state officials, and members of the Port Jervis Fire Department. Detective and Police Benevolent Association President Kyle Mitchell announced the building would be named the Chief William J. Worden Training Facility, honoring a chief he said had made the project happen after years in which officers joked about whether the range would ever be finished.

The new site includes state-of-the-art technology and training provisions, exercise equipment, a kitchen area and an on-site shooting range. That combination makes it more than a ceremonial project. For a department that already earned accreditation from the New York State Law Enforcement Accreditation Program in 2025, the building reinforces a broader push for professional standards, frequent training and operational readiness. The city said that accreditation review involved 262 interviews, 82 observations and 112 standards across administration, training and operations, a process it said fewer than 35% of New York law-enforcement agencies had achieved.

Mayor Dominic Cicalese used the opening to proclaim Saturday, May 9, 2026, as Chief William Worden Recognition Day. The proclamation noted that Worden began his Port Jervis Police Department career as a patrol officer in 1993 and became chief in 2007. It also highlighted his education as a Port Jervis City School District graduate with degrees from SUNY Orange, Mercy College and John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

The personal history behind the naming reaches back another century. Coverage of the Worden family connection notes that his link to Port Jervis policing runs through Ed Moorehead, who served as city police chief from about 1918 to 1930. That family thread gave the dedication a deeper meaning for officers and residents alike, tying today’s department to the city’s long public-safety history.

The facility also matters because Port Jervis sits at the junction of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, where police capability has regional consequences. By bringing training, exercise space and weapons practice under one roof on Towpath Road, the department has given itself a permanent base for mutual-aid readiness, officer development and future improvements already envisioned by Worden and his successors.