Metropolitan Police Specialist Training Centre

51°26′30″N 0°24′15″E / 51.44163°N 0.40413°E / 51.44163; 0.40413

The Metropolitan Police Specialist Training Centre is a specialist training centre for the Metropolitan Police (MPS) in Gravesend, Kent.^[1][2] It provides both Public Disorder and Specialist Firearms training to officers drawn from the MPS, British Transport Police and City of London Police.

The centre was purpose-built for the Metropolitan Police and opened in 2003.^[1][2]

The site covers 9,250 square metres and was rebuilt by Equion. It was a former military firing range and also the National Civilian Seacraft training centre before the centre relocated to the local college campus.^[1]

It features mock roads, shops, a pub, a bank, a nightclub, a football stadium, train and underground stations with full-size carriages and a full-size section of an aircraft.^[1] There are also classrooms and lecture theatres, accommodation for more than 300 people, stables for 10 police horses and an abseil tower.^[1]

The site was photographed by James Rawlings in 2014 when he was given access to the site.^[2][3][4] It took several months of negotiations with authorities for Rawlings to get permission to photograph the site and restrictions included not showing the faces of officers who took part in training.^[4]

The site has also appeared on Television in the former police procedural drama "The Bill".^{[citation needed]}