Revamping agency's Firearms training.

[redbeard1]

Thanks, guys. I was able to convince the previous admin to allow officers on the indoor range without a range instructor so that the ones who wanted to shoot more could do so. The bad part is we have to bring our own ammo. I consider this a win and will keep inching toward changing things over time.

[Sabre07]

We hit a training jackpot with the state adopting a new DT system, a couple of eye-opening critical incidents and a new state requirement for active shooter training. That set us up for 80 hours of in-service training in TY2015. Our guys are getting 2 different blocks of 40 hours each. Part of Block 1 is 16 hours of tactical firearms, followed by an 8 hour active shooter class. The tac firearms is heavy on manipulation and movement that supports the active shooter mission. The AS class is all force on force and that supports the firearms training (nothing is stand-alone). The fact we have a patrol commander that wants all Patrol Officers trained to respond, not merely support means we are a busy training division.

I don't really like the term tactical firearms, by the way...never seen any training called "admin firearms".

[CanineCombatives]

Sweet, some great instructors in your state.

[jondoe297]

I'm jealous of you guys that have agencies that give you better than average training. My department is a once-yearly state mandated qualification (50 rounds), and that's it. Personnel that want additional trigger time can come to qualifications and shoot the course if they want. There isn't much in the way remedial training. Our people that can't pass the quals are coached just to the point to get them to pass.
We're given 50 rounds of ammo a month to "train" with, but I'd say only about 25% of our sworn personnel even bother to stop by training and get their ammo.

[Eagle1*]

I am lucky enough to have a Chief (and previous Chiefs) that leave this up to me, the primary firearms instructor of my agency. When I was hired, it was once a year quals with 1 open range day for any officer to show up and shoot what he wanted, no actual real world worth at all for LE in my book. Once I took over in 2004, I have implemented at least 1 firearms shoot with shooting drills and starting this year we are at 2 extra shooting days other than the Ohio qual day. Problem with my agency and a lot of others is that my dept does not have its own range and we are at the mercy of the county agency to actually get a few days a year to shoot as there are over 20-30 local agencies trying to do the same at the same range. Now if my city could build me our own range, we would shoot once a month!

And as stated above, 2/3 of my dept wants to be there and the others could care less. Its really sad that there are still officers in this day and age of our job that do not take this portion of our jobs seriously. I always tell and show that shooting is a perishable skill and if you don't get behind that gun enough, you will forget the muscle mechanics of it and have to retrain yourself if it has been awhile. And an OIS is not the time to have to retrain yourself or be "lacking" as it may just cost you your life. Keep pushing through but knowing what your administration is most concerned with would be a great avenue for the approach as it has always worked for me.

Another idea is to do FATS training as we also do this once a year. I know that this is not actual shooting but it seems to work really well to see where each one of your officers is on his ability to apply what force is needed. We do multiple scenarios that make the officer choose what use of force is the best (if any), not every scenario has to be a OIS drill. If that is how you run your FATS, it just becomes a video game at that point. Good Luck...

[Jeff22]

Steady incremental change can accomplish a lot, but you have to be patient.

First thing to do is improve everybody's basic skills so that they can pass any mandated qualification course consistently on the first attempt.

Then you can get into more advanced skills like low light applications and multiple target engagement and incorporating lateral movement on the draw and etc.

Budget and scheduling and lack of interest from admin/some of your students will be your biggest obstacles to implementing change.