{"id":183500,"date":"2026-02-18T21:47:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T21:47:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/183500\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T21:47:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T21:47:21","slug":"san-diego-police-transform-old-chargers-training-building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/183500\/","title":{"rendered":"San Diego police transform old Chargers training building"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was the training ground for San Diego Chargers legends like LaDainian Tomlinson and Phillip Rivers, but now serves as a recruitment and wellness-rehabilitation center for San Diego police officers.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, a host of local law enforcement and community leaders held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for Police Plaza, a Kearny Mesa facility complete with retrofitted training grounds, a gym and personal wellness spaces at the same address that once housed the Chargers before their move to Los Angeles eight years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince the Chargers broke my heart and moved out of San Diego several years ago, this building has taken on more and more responsibility with the Police Department,\u201d Lt. Steve Shebloski said. \u201cIt went from housing one division in 2018 with our current chief, who was a captain here, Scott Wahl, to now housing (multiple divisions) and over 200 officers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Police Plaza is now home to the department\u2019s community and youth services division, the neighborhood policing division, the training division, the operational support unit and the administrative offices for SWAT. Additionally, the recruiting unit also uses the space for its CAMP program, which prepares recruits for the police academy.<\/p>\n

\"AA San Diego Chargers training facility plaque is displayed in a case at San Diego Police Plaza on Wednesday. (Kristian Carreon \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n

The updated facility, which hadn\u2019t seen a facelift since San Diego police moved into it nearly a decade ago, now includes an upgraded lobby, complete with soft lighting, new furniture and a display of historic law enforcement artifacts. Behind it sits a \u201cHall of Honor,\u201d a hallway that showcases the names, stories and photos of all San Diego police officers who have died in the line of duty since the department was founded more than a century ago.<\/p>\n

In the lobby, the old Chargers logo on the floor\u00a0is now covered, and a 23-foot depiction honoring the former team\u2019s history is now covered by a hand-painted mural showcasing the department\u2019s history. The old team\u2019s general meeting room is now a Taser training room, but the football team\u2019s iconic bolt logo still hangs on the balconies outside the building.<\/p>\n

\"LightningLightning bolts are seen displayed at San Diego Police Plaza, which was previously the training facility for the San Diego Chargers. (Kristian Carreon \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe get to show the community who we are and how we\u2019ve progressed over the years; how we\u2019ve connected the community,\u201d Shebloski said. \u201cWhen our training division hosts training that is both regional and local, everybody gets to come in and see the proud history of the department.\u201d<\/p>\n

The facility also includes the Chargers\u2019 old weight room, but retrofitted with new equipment emblazoned with the San Diego police badge shield and the department\u2019s motto, \u201cOne team, One mission.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe newly updated gym at San Diego Police Plaza. (Kristian Carreon \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n

During phase two of construction, officials plan to build a sauna area, a cold plunge, yoga studios and spaces for jiu-jitsu training, officials said. In addition to having personal trainers come in to provide training classes, an important aspect of the building is giving officers a place to heal and focus on their personal wellness, officials said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe focus for us with this gym is to really build up morale,\u201d said Capt. Mike Ramsay. \u201cAnd of course, it\u2019s for the overall wellness of the officers.\u201d<\/p>\n

The renovations were paid for by a donation from the San Diego Police Foundation, as well as a $1.2 million wellness grant from the Board of State and Community Corrections, funding directed specifically toward officer wellness and mental health.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was the training ground for San Diego Chargers legends like LaDainian Tomlinson and Phillip Rivers, but now…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183501,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[7,138,79,181,23,100,74,84,76,75,1696],"class_list":{"0":"post-183500","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-crime-and-public-safety","10":"tag-kearny-mesa","11":"tag-latest-headlines","12":"tag-local-news","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-san-diego","15":"tag-san-diego-county","16":"tag-san-diego-headlines","17":"tag-san-diego-news","18":"tag-top-stories-sdut"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183500\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}