Emergency Vehicle Operations Center
San Bernardino County Sheriff Department

When the 78 acre San Bernardino County EVOC opened in 1991, it was one of the most advanced facilities of its type in the nation. In California, the only EVOC approaching it in size and diversity is the 43 acre California Highway Patrol EVOC at their training site outside Sacramento. Unlike the CHP and the EVOC at the LAPD’s new Ed Davis Center, the San Bernardino County EVOC is a single purpose facility, not part of a larger training site. It sits in a dusty plain, next to a wash and an off-highway vehicle recreation area, south of Glen Helen. Police departments from all over the country send their training officers here for instruction.

This EVOC has a mile long high speed track ( flooded area , detail 1 , detail 2 ) a large skid pan made of polished concrete that, when watered, becomes as slick as ice. A large asphalt lot in the middle of the track is primarily used as a motorcycle obstacle course. It also has a residential street grid ( viewing tower ) with numerous intersections, a few 4 wheel drive obstacle courses ( detail 1 , detail 2 ) , and a simulated rail crossing. Overseeing it all is a observation tower atop the administration and classroom building. The EVOC has a fleet of several dozen cars, including some that have been especially modified to practice the PIT maneuver, a police tactic for nudging cars into a skid.