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Owner provides free training ground for law enforcement

By John Mitchell, jmitchell@VenturaCountyStar.com
March 28, 2004

Mike Levy in some ways resembles a big kid when he's at home -- lean and tanned, sporting a white T-shirt and jeans, jumping atop a small all-terrain vehicle with fat wheels, gunning it and zipping down dirt roads on his 530-acre spread between Santa Paula and Fillmore.

It's tough to imagine Levy in suit and tie as president and CEO of Home Savings Mortgage, an Oxnard-based company with 15 branches and 15 more planned this year. But that's how the 38-year-old makes his living.

when he's not behind his desk, he spends a lot of time outdoors on his sprawling Stradivarius Farms, named after a French show horse he once owned. That's where he raises cattle, boards horses, grows a lot of hay, collects and rebuilds abandoned military vehicles, and gallivants in a military sort of way with his paintball team.

It is also a place he shares with law enforcement agencies, allowing them to conduct SWAT, K-9 and other training there. He charges them nothing, saving the agencies the expense of sending their specialized teams to other, possibly out-of-county locations. It's been so well-received that he now wants to create more elaborate, realistic scenarios that would offer a greater variety of challenges for the officers.

On a recent Thursday, Levy pulled his four-wheeler to a stop in front of a large assemblage of military vehicles, a short distance from his livestock. Humvees, armored personnel carriers, a mobile command post and a mobile rocket launcher all sat on a large lot. Much like a museum guide, the proud collector talked about the origin and purpose of each.

Another major hobby is his Team Argent Force paintball team, a group of about 40 people in camouflage uniforms, well-versed in military tactics, who practice on some of the vehicles and on small building mock-ups elsewhere on his acreage.

It's been about a year since law enforcement teams began training on his property. The cops get to play serious hide-and-seek at his village of eight mock buildings, all roofless, in a greenbelt a short distance from the Santa Clara River. The dogs can sniff out and attack bad guys in the area, and the officers can test their skills in whatever vehicle he provides.

"In this day and age of terrorism, it's a wonderful thing he's doing," said county Supervisor Kathy Long. "All the agencies can take advantage of his offer and know that down the road there will be no cost for it."

Santa Paula Police Chief Bob Gonzales said his officers haven't trained there yet but plan to do so.

"We won't have to send our officers away to train. It will be right here in our back yard," Gonzales said. "The cost of mileage, housing and per diem for 10 officers, for example, could be a couple of thousand dollars."

Sheriff Bob Brooks couldn't put a dollar amount on the savings for county government, which, like many local agencies, is suffering from rising costs and decreasing state funding.

"It's especially valuable because we've got development encroaching on open space, and there are very few places left for us in Ventura County," Brooks said. "We have SWAT training at our academy (at the Camarillo Airport), but it's required every month, and it becomes routine if you're doing it at the same place most of the time. It's more desirable to have a variety of locations.

"And he's very helpful," Brooks said of Levy. "One time my unit needed a bus to practice hostage situations, and when we got there, he had come up with one." It's an old Los Angeles RTD bus with camouflage paint that Levy uses to transport his paintball team to competitions.

On the same Thursday that Levy showed off his military vehicles, some of which he rents to movie and TV producers, a SWAT team from the Ventura Police Department made its first visit to the training area.

Impressed with setup

During its stay, several officers hid in the mock buildings, and the others set out to capture or shoot them. For this exercise, their 9 mm, semiautomatic wea-pons were loaded with special cartridges of red paint balls.

Ventura Sgt. Al Davis said they were impressed with the setup and would be back.

Levy said he's had as many as 60 law enforcement personnel on his property at the same time.

"I have a deep appreciation for them, and their need for a place like this is so extraordinary," he said. "I had asked them to come out here because I felt compelled to make a contribution to the community.

"It wasn't easy to convince them. It took me a long time to get them out here. They were fairly skeptical at first, like it was too good to be true. But I think they've ended up really enjoying being out here and benefiting from the experience."

Levy said he just likes police officers. "I've found them to be good people, professional, polite, genuine," he said. "We're very fortunate in this county. Every one of them is top-notch."

Currently, Levy is basking in the glow of Trinity, the daughter that his wife, Julie, delivered March 20. Trinity is their first child. But when he does look at the rest of the world, one of the things on his mind is expanding the training site for police.

He hopes to add stations

"I've prepared 40 acres of agricultural land for this venture," he said. "My thought is to set it up in stations.

"One station would be a street scene with two rows of mock houses with cars, street signs and more. Next would be a two-story apartment building with multiple rooms. Perhaps there'd be a mock airport or mobile home park. We could create just about any scenario law enforcement deems prudent."

Off the top of his head, Levy said it would probably cost about $200,000. He said he hopes the public would help pay for the construction.

"I may well set this up as a nonprofit organization," he said. "This will give other people the opportunity to help out and hopefully minimize my personal expense setting it up."

But Levy said his outreach to law enforcement has no strings.

"I have no hidden agenda here," he said. "I really think this is an important contribution to our community. And it's a benefit to law enforcement because they have no place to adequately train."

On the Net: http://realitypaintball.com