Some of you guys just don't get it
I saw this thread and told myself that it should be interesting to see how officers are preceived by members of the forum. Some of you just don't get it. In fact, most of you just don't get it.
Frank Dreblin gets it. A few others do too. If you are a police officer, you arn't training to increase your proficiency with firearms in the expectation that, at some point in the future, your chosen profession might possibly mandate that you utilize that firearm to protect the lives and property of the citizens who pay your salery. If you have an ounce of brains in that shell casing you use for a hat stand, you are practicing to make sure you and your partner get home at the end of the shift.
Weapons are a tool, yes. The are also the cheapist insurance policy you'll ever get. If you are in law enforcement, you best get that into your head.
The next thing you need to survive is situational awareness. If you are in patrol this means know your district and your bad guys. Don't seal up your squad against the heat or the cold. You don't want the last sound you hear is the glass breaking just before the bullet enters your body, huh?
A lot of people on this thread are making a big thing about about a variety of skills; some justifiably. The minimum requirement law enforcement demands is to show up when the call goes out and do your best for your brother officer. If it turns out that your best wasn't good enough to contain the situation of immediatly resolve the problem, you will find that your buddies will be tolerent of your shortcomings and work with you to improve. If you allow fear to incapacitate you or weaken your resolve, your best bet is the shrink and an outbound bus.
Sorry, I got a little wordy. Specifically, the average cop is not a target shooter per se. Such training does not drive the officer to form habits that will serve him well. There are many cases in point were fallen officers have been recovered at crime scenes with empty brass in their pockets. A product of faulty training. Same thing with empty revolver speedloaders. I could create quite a list of these types of shortcomings, but what I am getting at is that the officer must develope situational awareness and tactical responses that fit the street and are immediate. So guys, go on and out shoot that putz at the range and make your "informed" opinions about a person whose world you know little of. It probably makes you feel a little better and causes him no harm, but I would advise you not to rely on that opinion should the day come when you meet him confrontationally in his world...
I'm getting up there in years at this point in time. Sixty nine and counting and gravity and more than occasional beer are not having a slimming effect on my manly figure, but I still shoot occasionaly for the sheer fun of it and , if you mess with me and mine, I'll strive to drop you like a hot rock. If age and luck determine the outcome not in my favor, I'll trust the guys in blue to finish the job - not people who plink and form opinions of others
Oh, and Frank Dreblin : I'd partner with you anytime...