NEW JERSEY COPS n MAY 2014
TRAINING STATION
Products, Services, Classes and Seminars for On The Job
Are you part of
the 10 percent?
In my 25 years of police experience, I have
come to believe that up to 10 percent of officers have difficulty passing the mandatory
Handgun Qualification Course (HQC). I
have arrived at this conclusion because I was
one of the 10 percent for many years.
When I started my career at the academy,
Jan Wright I was given all of the standard classroom
firearms training including sight alignment,
trigger control, etc. But when it came to the
actual qualification, I have no idea how or why I passed.
If passing was a score of 78, I mostly shot a 78. If I somehow shot an 85, I had no idea how I did it. I recall the
instructors asking me “OK, you have some on the outside
of the ‘Q,’ how come?” I did not want to tell them that I had
no idea how I got the shots inside the “Q.”
Following graduation, the semi-annual qualifications were
a nightmare. The officers would have side bets on whether I
would pass the course on the second or third try. I was offered
well-meaning useless advice such as, “just move them over a
bit or tighten up the group.” I knew what they meant but had
no idea how to do it. This went on for years. I now joke that my
tactical plan for a gunfight was “hope.”
Several years later, my chief, who must have seen something in me that I did not, asked me if I wanted to go to the
firearms instructor course. I thought he was speaking to someone else. I knew there was a prequalification just to get into this
class. I also knew I would never get in. The chief, with good
intentions, gave me useless advice by telling me to “just practice before you go.”
I spent the next few months basically wasting bullets, and
when I arrived at the Friday prequalification, I somehow managed to pass the test by literally one bullet.
During the week of training at the firearms instructor
course, a miracle occurred. Someone actually took the time to
teach me to shoot. What a novel idea. When I understood how
to shoot it seemed like a life-changing event. I could not wait
to get back to my department and show off my new skills. It did
not take long for me to realize that although I now could shoot,
I had no idea how to teach. This is what I believe is the issue
with police officers now. There are plenty of instructors that
know how to shoot, but very few can actually teach.
During the next few months, this column will address,
“What you should have learned about shooting.” So if you,
your partner, your subordinate or anybody else in your department is part of that 10 percent, stay tuned. d
Jan Wright is the Director of Training at RTSP in Randolph,
a retired chief of the Hamburg Police Department with 25
years of service and a retired member of PBA Local 138.
From left: RTSP Owner
Rick Friedman, Judge
Andrew Napolitano and
Spartan Group Director of
Risk Management Division
Nicholas Breiner
A new era in law enforcement training
n BY JOSHUA SIGMUND
A new partnership between RTSP in Randolph and Spartan Group
that will provide new training opportunities for law enforcement in
North Jersey premiered with a weekend-long open house May 3-4
that drew guests including Fox News contributor and Second
Amendment mega-supporter Judge Andrew Napolitano and Retired
NYPD Police C