Samarcand Training Academy

Occupying 430 acres in Moore County, Samarcand Training Academy provides basic, in-service and advanced training for DPS law enforcement agencies, as well as correctional officers, probation/parole officers and juvenile justice employees. Other local, state and federal agencies also may conduct training at the facility from time to time.

Originally opened in 1914 as a boys open-air school, the campus was repurposed in 2013 when the NC General Assembly allocated funding to convert the former school into a corrections and law enforcement training center. The state legislature initially designated $10.4 million to renovate 14 buildings in Phase I and two years later earmarked another $2.89 million to build the Academy’s Firearms Training Center. The newly-established training facility opened in fall 2015, while the Academy’s firearms training center, with a range house and two outdoor ranges, opened in June 2017. The NC General Assembly designated an additional $8.5 million in 2016 for Phase II construction to renovate three additional dormitories, an academic building and construct a new dining hall which opened spring 2019.

Samarcand offers 11 classrooms, dormitory space to house 172 students and 14 instructors, a newly constructed dining hall, and a firearms training center with two ranges and a range house.. The campus also includes a state-of-the-art use of force training simulator, and an obstacle and conditioning course.