NEW JERSEY COPS ■ JULY 2014
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minimal movement in the standard qualification course,
which is great, as long as you are participating in a duel. Training officers should teach how to advance forward, backward
and if feasible, laterally. For safety reasons, this may have to be
done one officer at a time or with small groups.
Second, six-inch circles with numbers can be drawn, or
small paper plates can be taped on regular Q targets. The
shooting officers will be told to shoot a specific number on the
target. This encourages decision-making as opposed to shooting at the only target that is in front of them. Multiple targets
with numbers written on them are another option. Officers
shoot at the target number that is called out.
If possible, park a vehicle on your range and shoot from the
driver’s and passenger seats. If that is not possible, bring chairs
onto the range and shoot from a sitting position. Even a bag
of colored balloons can be fun and challenging on the range.
Stapling or covering targets with clothing and hats adds to the
realism of training. Add malfunction and reloading drills into
the training for pistol, rifle and shotguns. For plainclothes and
off-duty applications, have officers draw while wearing a jacket or sweatshirt.
And let’s not forget about the different holsters used. The
time to find out that a holster does not work is on the range, not
the street.
I have found that my officers shot more accurately during
“training” as opposed to “qualifying.” I believe this was because
they were focused on the targets and because they knew it was
not a “test.”
Retired officers are not exempt from training. Showing up at
a range twice a year, talking about “the good old days” and then
doing the minimal qualification does not cut it. Retired officers
still need to keep up their skills.
With the rising costs and low availability of ammunition,
next month I will discuss training options that do not involve
live fire. 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.