Originally Posted by
john c
I think that's exactly what they're trying to do, which is put the thought process in place that if you can't make the shot, don't take it. There could be many reasons why an officer can't make the shot, like injury, line-of-sight, etc. Training them to be better shooters, always a good thing, doesn't take into consideration other factors about police shooting. Basically, are we testing raw shooting ability, or is shoot/no shoot decision making more important? Our qual tries to balance both.
My agency qualification is different than most others I've seen. First, there are no set round counts. You show up at the range with what you normally carry in your duty belt. If you carry more, you can shoot more; less, you can shoot less. Every time the target turns (at various distances, the targets run on a track) you shoot as many times as you can while the target faces. This simulates shooting until the target is no longer a threat. For evaluation purposes, targets at shorter distances face for less time than longer distances. Our targets are double sided; one side has a figure with a gun, and the other doesn't have a gun. The non-gun side is a no-shoot. At one point during the qual, the target charges you while faced. We have two programs for the qual, with the distances and times a bit mixed up. This is good, but after a few years, we sort of know the drill.
18 or more points passes, 17 or fewer fails. In theory, one fully loaded G17 can pass the course with no reloads. In practice, officers reload on their own, when they feel like it, during times when the target is moving. If you're reloaded when the target faces, then you miss that target.
Basically, we tell the officers to solve the problems with the tools they have on them at the time, with the limitations they're facing.