Is Your Department Gym Closed for Corona.

[Warren Wilson]

Ours is still open. No one has brought it up to the admin and no one will.

[John Hearne]

I wouldn't call it a "gym" but we have a squat cage, barbells, dumbells, weights, a treadmill and a crossfit area for the guys in my district. It is still open and has had an uptick of usage since public gyms are closed. We aren't doing any DT right now but continue to train at the range in small numbers with spacing between shooters.

[BobM]

Ours is still open. No one has brought it up to the admin and no one will.

Same here

[Curry]

Ours is open to employees only. No family or guests. Normally we are allowed to bring spouses or adult children. Also we have to spray everything we use before and after with this disinfectant spray.

[deputyG23]

All Station-Level gyms are closed. The Academy Gym remains open for use by the recruits only. DT training for the recruit continues, with masks and gloves. I convinced them to reopen the range, with new procedures for cleaning and only at minimal capacity (10 maximum on a 23 lane range). We have that class coming to the range on the 28th. Social distancing is gonna be....challenging.

Our firearms in-services are continuing as scheduled with shooters on every other firing lane. Everything is done outdoors. Targets are only handled by the instructors. Eye and ear pro are sanitized after each group. Trying to correct errors while social distancing is challenging to say the least. The poorer shooters usually require close contact at some point.
The Public Safety training gym has been closed since mid-March. There are weight rooms at both Jail facilities that are still accessible.

[TGS]

I wonder if we as a profession will see higher failure rates on qualifications when things get back to normal....

Our firearms in-services are continuing as scheduled with shooters on every other firing lane. Everything is done outdoors. Targets are only handled by the instructors. Eye and ear pro are sanitized after each group. Trying to correct errors while social distancing is challenging to say the least. The poorer shooters usually require close contact at some point.
The Public Safety training gym has been closed since mid-March. There are weight rooms at both Jail facilities that are still accessible.

This sounds completely measured and reasonable to me. I don't see validity in completely shutting down what is the most necessary of training when social distancing measures can still be effectively implemented, and even social distancing is not possible (going hands on to correct a grip, etc), very basic PPE and proper use allows sufficient protection....as opposed to DT, for instance.

And, for agencies who have a tight schedule and trouble qual'ing LEOs as it is, at least prioritizing them on 1/3-1/2 capacity ranges is a good idea instead of saying "nobody shoots, no way, no how, ever". I think this may have influenced our policy of suspending quals for everybody except the tactical team, though I think it was still overdone to cancel quals for everyone else. The guys working protection and in field offices should still be qualifying, maybe the exception can be made for the guys in program management positions to lessen the burden on the FTU....

...or, in the case of regular PDs, let the patrol, interdiction and warrants guys qual. If anyone has to forego qualification due to logistical burdens, make it the detectives not on proactive units, admin, so on.

[JDD]

I wonder if we as a profession will see higher failure rates on qualifications when things get back to normal....



This sounds completely measured and reasonable to me. I don't see validity in completely shutting down what is the most necessary of training when social distancing measures can still be effectively implemented, and even social distancing is not possible (going hands on to correct a grip, etc), very basic PPE and proper use allows sufficient protection....as opposed to DT, for instance.

And, for agencies who have a tight schedule and trouble qual'ing LEOs as it is, at least prioritizing them on 1/3-1/2 capacity ranges is a good idea instead of saying "nobody shoots, no way, no how, ever". I think this may have influenced our policy of suspending quals for everybody except the tactical team, though I think it was still overdone to cancel quals for everyone else. The guys working protection and in field offices should still be qualifying, maybe the exception can be made for the guys in program management positions to lessen the burden on the FTU....

...or, in the case of regular PDs, let the patrol, interdiction and warrants guys qual. If anyone has to forego qualification due to logistical burdens, make it the detectives not on proactive units, admin, so on.

I would go the other way: outside the entry level, folks who are likely to want to qual and maintain the standards on their own will gravitate to the positions where those things are rewarded/focused on. The last thing I would want to do if I was responsible for firearms training is give HQ and desk bound folks another reason to get out of qual or maintaining the standard - especially since many of those desk positions might be making decisions about equipment, or firearm policies, or any number of other applicable topics. I would be particularly leery of setting a precedent that folks in those positions don't need to meet the standard as much as others; it feels like it would be setting ourselves up for failure down the road when they cant pass a qual and I try to take their gun off them and they use the prior exemption as proof that they don't need to pass it.

[TGS]

I would go the other way: outside the entry level, folks who are likely to want to qual and maintain the standards on their own will gravitate to the positions where those things are rewarded/focused on. The last thing I would want to do if I was responsible for firearms training is give HQ and desk bound folks another reason to get out of qual or maintaining the standard - especially since many of those desk positions might be making decisions about equipment, or firearm policies, or any number of other applicable topics. I would be particularly leery of setting a precedent that folks in those positions don't need to meet the standard as much as others; it feels like it would be setting ourselves up for failure down the road when they cant pass a qual and I try to take their gun off them and they use the prior exemption as proof that they don't need to pass it.

Meh. I don't buy the slippery slope for us so much because of the extenuating circumstances and a memo from the director granting an extension of existing quals. There's no "exemption" from qualifying if you will, nor a change to the policy requiring that you be in qualification to carry a weapon, nor an exemption from the rule that if you fail two attempts your gun gets taken away.

At least within our agency, the people who would try to flex this slippery slope already don't qual to begin with. Remember, the rule is your gun gets taken away if you fail two attempts, but if you lapse on qual then you still keep your gun, you just aren't allowed to carry it domestically. People in/around the Death Star lapse on quals routinely, it's entirely on the chain of command to keep them in line (which the chain of command at those places often doesn't give a shit unless someone else above them makes it an issue like The Great Nastygram of 2015).

Thus, I'm more concerned about the here and now with real consequences; the people who are actually carrying their gun daily and have the higher chance of using it should maintain proficiency and robust legal indemnification.

[Checkman]

Our gym remained open though it was made off limits to all, but employees and one immediate family member who had to be with the employee. It was re-opened a couple days ago to retired employees and employees can now bring in more than one guest. However the gyms are now open in Idaho so the numbers using our facility have gone down.

[Coyotesfan97]

Our gyms are reopened but with a ton of rules about using them.