Scotty Reitz is a fan of low ready too, based on comments he made at ITTS. And based on at least one recent LAPD shooting that was caught on badge cams, low ready is still in use by LAPD.
Scotty Reitz is a fan of low ready too, based on comments he made at ITTS. And based on at least one recent LAPD shooting that was caught on badge cams, low ready is still in use by LAPD.
"...defeat the purpose of going to low ready in a self defense scenario."
Indeed it would, it would also insert an unfortunate complication into the body/badge cam video.
LAPD did a formal study on this back in the early 2000's, and I know Force Science has done some research as well. We heavily emphasize low ready in our training, though it is sometimes an uphill battle. Our Use of Force policy specifically makes pointing a firearm at someone a Reportable Use of Force, which means additional reporting and a supervisors investigation. Unfortunately, some of our cops think our emphasis on low ready is solely due to this policy, rather than for reasons of officer and public safety. It does not help that our Force Options Simulator Instructors, as well as some of the Defensive Tactics staff, directly contradict us in these issues. None of them are serious shooters, much less firearms instructors, so they know not from whence they speak. We're working on getting everyone on the same page. Its a struggle
Very recently, I was able to avoid shooting a dude because of practice drawing to a strong ready position and knowing how time related to the stuff I was doing. Much gratitude (esp from dude) and validation to my teachers and mentors advocating these concepts.
الدهون القاع الفتيات لك جعل العالم هزاز جولة الذهاب
LOL - Chicken or Egg, bro! Right?
I'll talk for a moment about my experience, keeping in mind the amazingly complex situations this might arise in. Keep in mind, I'm just a dude, not a cop, and presenting a firearm when not expressly warranted is a whole different kind of Pandora's box...
I haven't practiced drawing on an ambiguous target - something that a cop may/may not need to do. I'm unsure how you'd confirm sights without actually getting to sights in a case like that. That said, having the access box complete checked already puts you ahead of the curve.
In my experience from coursework with Kinetic Consulting doing deliberate clearing of a structure, setting up and taking a sight picture and confirming index under the sight line has been a real "ass saver" from shooting targets/people that didn't deserve to be shot. The concept really seems to mesh well with the "find the baseboards" method.
IMHO there are two separate skills at play here that the Rogers technique merges into one action: the low ready aspect (timing) and the "pre-indexing" of sights (orientation)
As positions changes, or movement becomes more prioritized, they will overlap less and less, but that's ok. For example, the skills doesn't seem to translate as completely of cleanly to something like USPSA, but there are some good takeaways: When approaching a position having the handgun indexed under the dominant eye eases some of the "aim through the barrier" setup skills. This stuff becomes really automatic from competition where those sub-seconds matter. This is where the timing "buffer" of the low ready position seems to help a bunch.
Drawing on an "ambiguous target" isn't just an issue for cops. Pointing a firearm at someone opens you to the possibility of being charged with aggravated assault unless it's blindingly obvious that you needed to, and depending on the political climate of where it takes place, you might be charged anyway.