21st century deadly force training for police

[DaveM55]

http://www.policeone.com/use-of-forc...ng-for-police/

Conventional marksmanship training has little to do with winning a gunfight

We are a full decade into a new century, but the way we train police officers to employ deadly force is no different than we did a decade before the 21st century began. According to FBI statistics, 80 percent of officers killed each year in gunfights die at seven yards or less, a figure little changed in the past 30 years. Officers routinely score 100 percent at the seven yard line on the training range, but in gunfights far more than 50 percent of the bullets they fire miss the target. The low hit rate scored by police officers on the street is not a marksmanship problem.

One large agency’s officers scored a gunfight hit rate of just 11 percent during a 10-year period I analyzed. That’s a staggering statistic, but another number was even more shocking. Though the sample was admittedly small, the bad guys in those incidents also scored an 11 percent hit rate.

Their Academy Commander summed it up perfectly: “My officers get a hundred hours of firearms training in the academy and quarterly qualifications thereafter, but are hitting at the same rate as felons with no formal training? We should save all the ammunition, because our training program seems to be worthless!”

In the late 1990s that agency’s training program still encouraged one-hand, slow-fire, bull’s-eye target shooting at the 25-yard line. After all, if an officer can shoot tight groups at 25 yards, they can easily handle a gunfight at 10 feet, right? Wrong! (89 percent of the time.)

A raw shooter can be scoring 100 percent at seven yards by the end of the first day of training. But, at least with that one police agency, upping the training time to nearly three weeks only produced 11 percent hits on the street. Recently released data on the gunfight hit rate of officers in the New York City and Los Angeles Police Departments mirror what I found in the mid-west. During a gunfight, about 25 percent of the shots fired by their officers hit their intended target.

Most programs “train to the test,” meaning they practice the skills necessary to fire a passing score on the qualification course. Many qualification tests are an adaptation of the old Practical Pistol Course. Many agencies are training to a “test” that has no similarity whatsoever to a police gunfight.

We need to prepare officers for the next gunfight, not the next competitive shooting match. We must train deadly force in a manner that will ensure officers pass the real test — winning a gunfight at 20 feet, not punching tight groups at 15-25 yards. Taking the “top shooter” award in your training class is cool, but winning your first gunfight is way cooler.

A training program which emphasizes the management of combat stress, without any marksmanship training, would create a better gunfighter than any program based solely on conventional marksmanship training. If they can master stress, even a below average marksman will score hits and win most pistol confrontations. If they master combat stress, marksmanship may prove to be a minor part of the gunfight equation. If they can’t master stress, even the very best marksman may miss — and die.

The only pre-gunfight way to gain combat “experience” is through Reality-Based Training (RBT). I’m not suggesting we ignore the development of marksmanship skills. Instead, we need to develop and test an officer’s marksmanship skills against interactive threats, not paper images on a shooting range. Once trainees can reliably hit paper targets out to seven yards and load/function/clear their sidearm, we should pit them against stressful computer simulators and human adversaries in RBT scenarios using paint munitions. Only when a trainee can deliver 80 percent hits — under stress, against live hostile targets, while on the move at between five and 25 feet — should we return to the live-ammunition range to develop more refined marksmanship skills.

Talk all you like about one of the rare 25-yard shots that have been made by pistol-armed officers, but, we still shoot poorly on the street and merely training more of the same won’t change that fact. If we never get back to the range to develop pistol shooting skills at 15-25 yards, so be it! That’s why all cops should have patrol rifles. With rifles, we can develop higher marksmanship skills, building upon the true gunfighting skills they learn with their pistols in the RBT scenarios.

[Wiley-X]

In the effort to modernize there is all too often a mad dash to throw the baby out with the bath water. From what I've seen of police training, there is a problem but the problem is that there isn't enough of it. Fundamentals always serve well, be it in motorcycle racing, shooting or snogging. Fundamentals burn things into our brains so they become actions without thought. Things like depressing the clutch before shifting, dropping a mag, or snogging. From what I've read, it takes about 1,000 repetitions before it gets burned into our brains.

100 hours of training? Well, you can fly a plane with only forty hours of training but how many rounds get fired in the 100 hours? How many magazine changes?

It is really sad that the average shooting enthusiast will shoot more and seek out more advanced training than someone who has to carry a gun as part of his job.

Musicians go to teachers, actors go to coaches, programmers attend seminars, athletes attend clinics and most look forward to the extra training because they know that it will improve their performance. However, listen to a cop when he says that he has to go qualify.

Maybe the problem isn't so much in the training as it is in the mindset of the individual officers.

[son of the revolution]

In the effort to modernize there is all too often a mad dash to throw the baby out with the bath water. From what I've seen of police training, there is a problem but the problem is that there isn't enough of it. Fundamentals always serve well, be it in motorcycle racing, shooting or snogging. Fundamentals burn things into our brains so they become actions without thought. Things like depressing the clutch before shifting, dropping a mag, or snogging. From what I've read, it takes about 1,000 repetitions before it gets burned into our brains.

100 hours of training? Well, you can fly a plane with only forty hours of training but how many rounds get fired in the 100 hours? How many magazine changes?

It is really sad that the average shooting enthusiast will shoot more and seek out more advanced training than someone who has to carry a gun as part of his job.

Musicians go to teachers, actors go to coaches, programmers attend seminars, athletes attend clinics and most look forward to the extra training because they know that it will improve their performance. However, listen to a cop when he says that he has to go qualify.

Maybe the problem isn't so much in the training as it is in the mindset of the individual officers.

BINGO !!!! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


I've heard way to many Cops bitch about qualifying every 6 months , or when I ask if they want to get some range time , they look at me like I must be nuts to want to go spend some time actually practicing. Its not just sad and a disservice to themselves, their families and the communities they serve, its downright frightening

[Steve in PA]

As an instructor............the problem IS the attitude/mindset of the officers.

[gnbrotz]

As an instructor............the problem IS the attitude/mindset of the officers.

Could you briefly characterize the attitude(s)/mindset(s) that you encounter?

[Kaos]

Could you briefly characterize the attitude(s)/mindset(s) that you encounter?

Im not an instructor, but I've been at the range a few times when local officers (in uniform) were just practicing. I know plenty of officers that can rock it when it comes to guns, they probably wont raise a stink and will go undetected in a training class as theyll take it as feedback.

The ones I've seen are know it alls, shooting at pistol steel on pistol ranges with rifles...or not being able to get more than 2-3 shots on a paper plate @ 20 yards with their duty pistol.

I'm only 24...and the older I get I realize the less I really know. It's humbling.

[son of the revolution]

I realize the less I really know. It's humbling.

And right there is the dichotomy!

Wearing the uniform, the training received , the mindset cultivated, and the authority they have all conspire to foster and encourage a mindset of arrogance with way to many LEO's, the polar opposite of humility

[Pa. Patriot]

As an instructor............the problem IS the attitude/mindset of the officers.

I can relate. I used to regularly attend monthly study groups with ATSA.
ATSA study groups, particularly the FOF scenarios (they essentially invented modern FOF training techniques that most schools use now) are very humbling experience for anyone. While the regular group was a mix of LEO/ex leo and non-leo, I noticed a trend in the few years I attended regularly among the "new" folks.

The highest rate of non-return after attending one time was LEO's.

From my personal observation, it was due to the attitude they brought with them that they were some sort of "experts".
This was not limited to LEO's. I was a competition shooter and had a similar attitude my first day
My point is that while it was interesting to observe people change their attitudes, literally, right in front of your own eyes, it seems a disproportionate amount of LEO's couldn't get over the initial ego crush when they were killed in FOF scenarios and/or couldn't hit shit they were shooting at in high stress drills involving unconventional circumstances and techniques.

There is an unwritten rule that cops are gun experts. But just like anyone else (non-LEO), when it comes to mindset and tactics: "You don't know what you don't know"

[Steve in PA]

Could you briefly characterize the attitude(s)/mindset(s) that you encounter?

Most will not go out and shoot, unless it is during our actual training.

When doing drills, most don't view the drill as , "okay......let's get the mindset that these targets are actually a threat to me"...........

On the qualification COF, most desire to shoot enough to qualify, rather than to beat last years score, or strive to shoot the highest possible score.

I don't strive to upstage anyone, nor do I profess to be a "one hole shooter" from the 25yd line, but I often hear the comment from Officer X saying, "I know who I will call for back up".......after looking at my target. Um....what if I'm not working or you don't have time to call for back up? How about if I need the back up and I have to worry about you protecting my butt??

As you often see, many officers view shooting and firearms training as something like...............taking out the garbage or picking up dog crap in the yard. It has to be done, but no one is looking forward to it.

There are some who look forward to the training.

The attitudes might change if we had access to better ranges, more time to schedule training. It's not an excuse, but most officers are part-time, working for multiple depts, etc. Kind of hard to get a person who just worked an 8-hour shift to come out and train for a day, only to have to immediately go back and work another 8-hour shift for another department, etc.

Except for PA, many depts in other states actually give their officers "X" amount of rounds to go out and shoot every month. LOL......around here, we are luck to get enough ammo to run our training.

[Wiley-X]

Except for PA, many depts in other states actually give their officers "X" amount of rounds to go out and shoot every month. LOL......around here, we are luck to get enough ammo to run our training.

One would think that a professional would be willing to shell out a few bucks (tax deductable) to increase his proficiency with a vital tool of his trade.