Islip, Feds formalize deal on gun range

Islip Town and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have struck a four-year deal formalizing an existing arrangement in which officers train at the town Pistol and Rifle Range in Islip hamlet.

Officers from ICE’s enforcement and removal operations, a division of the Department of Homeland Security, have used the 130 Freeman Ave. range as a training facility for the past five years, but until now the town had billed the agency monthly, creating an administrative burden, Islip parks commissioner Greg Dawson said.

Under the agreement, ICE staffers can use the facility for eight-hour periods, Monday through Friday, year-round, Dawson said. The agency will then pay Islip $38,000 for the fiscal year from Sept. 1 through Aug. 31. 2012, $39,000 the following year, $39,500 in the third year and $40,500 for the fourth year.

The $38,000 for the current period represents about a 50 percent increase from what ICE paid the town in the previous 12 months, officials said.

Dawson said ICE staffers liked the Islip facility because it provided them with the multiple uses they needed for training — a classroom for instruction, space for tactical training as well as the shooting range — within proximity of their Manhattan headquarters.

ICE officials did not respond to a request for comment.