Design a Qualification Course

M

Matt VDW

New member
OK, armchair quarterbacks, here's your chance to call the plays:

Imagine that you're the head (actually, the only) firearms training officer for a small suburban police department with 16 officers. You've been assigned to design a pistol qualification course using the following parameters:

- The officers on your department are all close to the statistical average for American LEOs in shooting skill, training background, and interest in firearms. You can't fire them all and replace them with veterans of Delta Force. ;)

- The issue sidearm is the Glock 22, .40 S&W. You can't sell off the Glocks and replace them with S&W Model 10s, SIG P220s, or whatever else you think would be better.

- Each officer will have to qualify twice a year. You're expected to pass 75% of the force on the first try and 75% of the remainder after no more than four hours of remedial training.

- The qualification course can expend no more than 50 rounds and last no longer than 30 minutes.

- Before you start testing, you're going to get to give a 4 hour refresher class at the range, expending no more than 100 rounds of ammo per officer.

- You'll need to document the logic behind the design of your course should the department have to defend its training policies in court after a shooting.

- The department also issues Remington 870 shotguns and authorizes privately owned backup guns but those weapons are outside the scope of this exercise.

What does your qualification course look like?
 
85% of it in low light or darkness. NO percentages please. Pass/fail ONLY.
85% at 21 feet or less. 95% HIT rate. 98% should qualify with only an hour of advance training even if they never fired a gun in their life. I do it several times a week.
The other 2% take an additional 50 rounds and an hour and a pound of beef to their dogs who guide them. It ain't rocket science.

------------------
Specialists in the use and training of lethal force.
 
Your comment about defending your shooting
program in court got my interest.

If you test with handguns and plan to have
the officers shoot using sights, think of
this: Darrell of http://www.plusp.com said in a
past thread that upon reviewing over 900 +
videos of shootings, he has not seen one
in which sighted shooting was used.

I have seen a few of them as well, and have
not seen anything but spray and pray or
point and blast. I also as an observer
have seen two such incidents in which
several shots were fired and no one was
hit. One was an officer shooting at
running suspects at night, and the other
a bad guy was running after another bad
guy and shooting at him.

Also, if you test with handguns at 10 yards
or beyond, you are asking to much.

At 15 feet to hit a chest sized target
the gun muzzle has to be within 3/8 of
an inch of the exact center of the target
or you will miss. At 25 feet it has to
be within 1/4 inch of the exact target
center or you will miss.

So here is your conundrum: by a margin
of 900 to zero, gun sights are not used
in close quarters shootouts, but at the
same time, you won't be able to hit
anything unless you do use them if you
are shooting with a current method of shooting.

So what you may be doing is staging
an elaborate farce.

I am a proponent of P&S which has been
thoroughly test at the Vermont Police
Academy. Visit my site for more info.
http://members.aol.com/okjoe/ps.htm

As a former gov worker, I suggest that
you tell your boss that you are a bit
uncomfortable with what you are being
asked to do based on the above info.

Say that "it may be good to get legal's
opinion on this to be sure that we
are headed down the right rode. We
don't need any bad or accidental
shootings."

It would be good if you wrote up an
informal note or memo to him/her on
this. Sign and send it, and forget
it. Keep a personal copy or two of
it just in case.

You will have made an effort to do
your best. And even if you go ahead
with a standard program, it will be
no worse than any other, and at a
minimum you will know that your staff
can shoot there guns in the right
direction.

Last edited 2:13 Pacific Time


[This message has been edited by okjoe at aol.com (edited March 02, 2000).]
 
All drills to start from standing, with arms relaxed and gun holstered unless otherwise stipulated:

Point blank - speed rock, two rounds to center mass in two seconds. ( 2x )

Three yards - double tap in 2.5 seconds. ( 2x )

Seven yards - Mozambique drill, three rounds to primary in five seconds. ( 2x )

Seven yards - Double tap primary target, speed reload, double tap secondary target, in seven seconds. ( 2x )

Seven yards - Starting from the ready position, strong hand only, two rounds to the primary target, transition to the weak hand, two rounds to the secondary target, in five seconds. ( 2x )

Fifteen yards - Two rounds to the primary target, two rounds to the secondary target, in seven seconds.

Fifteen yards - Draw, kneel, two rounds to the primary target, two rounds to the secondary target, in seven seconds. ( 2x )

Twenty five yards - Draw, shooter's choice of standing, kneeling, or prone, two rounds to the primary target in seven seconds.

Twenty five yards - Three rounds to the primary target, tactical reload while seeking cover behind barracade, three rounds to the secondary target, shooter's choice behind barracade, in ten seconds.

The target should alternate between primary and secondary for ease of scoring purposes where "2x" denotes a second drill.

That is 50 rounds.

A "broad" and "general" range of skills are covered, at various distances. Liability wise, this covers most situations.

This is based on what the state of Colorado demands. It is very close, if not exactly what they ask of their officers, I just cannot remember right now. The times can be played with, though keep in mind that officers will fail en mass if the times are sped up much. Only the gun savy one's will ace it - the state average when scored with five points for hits, three points for secondary hits, and one point for hitting the target at all is around 170 out of 210 I read somewhere. 70%, or 147 out of 210 is passing. You should, of course allways be in the 200s.

Good luck!

Erik




[This message has been edited by Erik (edited March 02, 2000).]
 
For fun,through in failure to fire drills during practice via loading dummy rounds. The troops will love ya for it!
 
In the state that I work and train, the Police Officer Standards and Training Board mandate what the qualification course of fire will be. They speak of using 50 duty rounds, a certain percentage of rounds fired at short range (1-4yrds), medium range (4-15yrds), and long range (15+ yrds). The Officer will also be instructed in Moving Targets, Night and Adverse Weather, Stress Shoot, and Shoot-no-Shoot. You might want to check with the state in which you work to see if there is some policy to go by that is already in place.
 
Handgun Qualification Course (HQC2)

50 rounds Service Amunition.
FBI Q Target, either paper or cardboard.
80% or 40/50 hits within border of Q target to qualify.
Multiple targets at the discretion of the firearms instructor.
Reloading can be varied by the instructor.

Phase I 25 yard line. Time: 75 sec. 10 rounds.
6 rounds SH kneeling barricade
2 rounds Crouch over barricade
2 rounds WH kneeling barricade

Phase II 15 yard line. Time:5 sec. 3 rounds.
Point Shoulder Position

Phase III 15 yard line. Time: 25 sec. 7 rounds.
Point Shoulder Position
SH kneeling Position
3 rounds PS, go to kneeling and fire remaining 4 rounds.

Phase IV 10 yard line. Time: 3 sec. 2 rounds each drill repeat for 6 rounds total.
Scan Position.
Start with weapon drawn and scanning target on command or turn of target, fire 2 rounds each time.

Phase V 7 yard line. Time: 4 sec. 3 rounds.
Standing Point Shoulder Position.
On command draw and fire 3 rounds.

Phase VI 7 yard line. Time: 25 sec. 6 rounds.
Standing Point Shoulder Position.
On command darw and fire 3 rounds, reload, repeat for 6 rounds total.

Phase VII 7 yard line. Time: 4 sec. 3 rounds.
Standing Poinbt Shoulder Position.
On command draw and fire 3 rounds.

Phase VIII 5 yard line. Time: 3 sec. 2 rounds each drill repeat for 6 rounds total.
Cover Suspect Position.
Draw weapon and assume cover suspect position. On command or turn of target, fire 2 rounds each time.

Phase IX 1 yard line (extended arms length from target). Time: 2 sec. 2 rounds.
Weapon Retention Position.
On command or turn of target, fire 2 rounds each time.

End of Course

Mixing in safe-t-trainer rounds or dummy rounds is all well and good for a drill but not for actual qualification where it may cause a marginal shooter to fail due to running over time or just becoming confused and necessitate another run. Seeing as a 30 min. limit was set, time must be of the essence.
Ball and dummy drills are just that, drills to teach the officer how to react and clear the malfunction.

This is one of the two courses of fire mandated by the New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety Division of Criminal Justice to be used on a semi-annual basis for all LE agencies in New Jersey.

The night course (HNQC) is different totally.



------------------
Did you ever stop to think...
And then forget to start over again?

Jim - NRA Life Member

www.geocities.com/jimc_07874/home.html
 
All drills to start from standing, with arms relaxed and gun holstered unless otherwise stipulated:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Stop it right here. If the gun isn't in your hand when it starts you will seldom survive. Bill Jordan's famous words. 88% of cops die with the gun IN the holster. A real bad place to start me thinks.

Point blank - speed rock, two rounds to center mass in two seconds. ( 2x )
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Why just two? Is there a limit? Why not one? Why not five? Why two? Speed rock dates to 1950's. Haven't we figured out yet we are a little behind the times, and that arms don't stop bullets etc?

Three yards - double tap in 2.5 seconds. ( 2x )
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Why two? Another limit? If we resort to our training that is what we will resort two? and why 2.5 seconds. Why not 2.0? Why not 1.5? Why not 3.0? WHO came up with that figure and why? I don't recall a timer in real shootings.

Seven yards - Mozambique drill, three rounds to primary in five seconds. ( 2x )
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
We can't hit center mass at arms length, so we will try for head shots in low light and/or darkness and both target and shooter moving. A casino is the place to gamble. Why three rounds? Gosh, real shootings are sure organized these days.

Seven yards - Double tap primary target, speed reload, double tap secondary target, in
seven seconds. ( 2x )
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I think the 2x thing gets boring putting such a limit on our application of force. Speed reload? I assure you that if you are in a real shooting you will SPEED reload. But never mind NYPD's study of 4,000+ shootings and only 11 reloads and none effected the outcome of the shooting. 11 out of 4,000.
Chuck Taylor often recites that one as well and I got it from him originally and NYPD confirmed it.

Seven yards - Starting from the ready position, strong hand only, two rounds to the
primary target, transition to the weak hand, two rounds to the secondary target, in five
seconds. ( 2x )
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Fifteen yards - Two rounds to the primary target, two rounds to the secondary target, in seven seconds.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I'm getting the impression the thugs are going along with this plan. Talk about a salesmanship job.

Fifteen yards - Draw, kneel, two rounds to the primary target, two rounds to the secondary target, in seven seconds. ( 2x )
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
This is in the dark and in slush isnt it?

Twenty five yards - Draw, shooter's choice of standing, kneeling, or prone, two rounds to the primary target in seven seconds.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Shotgun broke? This is in the dark and slush isn't it? Ever do this in -30 below with a wind on an asphalt highway?

Twenty five yards - Three rounds to the primary target, tactical reload while seeking
cover behind barracade, three rounds to the secondary target, shooter's choice behind
barracade, in ten seconds.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Tactical reload? Not a speed reload? All the reloads is confusing me. And where do we get the barricade? Inflateable?

The target should alternate between primary and secondary for ease of scoring purposes
where "2x" denotes a second drill.
That is 50 rounds.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
So I have to get more mags? And on the street you won't get a "ease for scoring purposes." The thugs make those decisions NOT us.

A "broad" and "general" range of skills are covered, at various distances. Liability wise, this covers most situations.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Am I worrying about my employers liability or my hide? 85% or more of shootings are at 21 feet or LESS (most 10-11 feet) and about the same in low light or darkness. Where does this cover that based on those KNOWN numbers?

This is based on what the state of Colorado demands. It is very close, if not exactly what they ask of their officers, I just cannot remember right now. The times can be
played with, though keep in mind that officers will fail en mass if the times are sped up much.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
At least they figured out if the thugs change the rules they fail en mass. Doesn't sound very comforting to me. In REAL life they are sped up a lot.


Only the gun savy one's will ace it - the state average when scored with five points for hits, three points for secondary hits, and one point for hitting the target at all
is around 170 out of 210 I read somewhere. 70%, or 147 out of 210 is passing. You
should, of course allways be in the 200s.
Good luck!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Colorado eh? Me thinks I should post Denver's latest stats on their HIT rate.
If this course got them that I'd prefer something from Sears. Hate to be harsh, but the mush of buzzwords and Disneyland logic is getting cops killed and we KNOW it.
Boy, will I ever take flak over this post. But a little thinking about reality would be refreshing. And 147 allows you on the street? This course wouldn't even make you breath hard. Imagine if you left that with a 147 or so under your belt what a good case of FRIGHT would do to you. Don't fly over that range when they are there.
 
Officersuspect.jpg


Remember, double tap em, get a good flash sight picture and maybe a speed rock thrown in and he'll let you do a speed reload so don't worry about it. This cop was shot in the chest with his own gun and his partner WATCHED and did NOTHING. She was fired for that at least. She didn't resort to her training. Me thinks the thug is kinda in control. This is a little more realistic.

[This message has been edited by pluspinc (edited March 03, 2000).]
 
All of your suggestions are excellent, with the exception of the long criticism above.

Plusp: If you had ever tried any of these drills, you would know that it is nearly impossible to complete them in the allotted time.
 
JMC has a very good Qual Course outline...
From which you could add or edit to suit your area.
Plusp's remarks are, to a letter, invalid.
To hear him talk - he and his students walk on water... Yet he never explains why. Curious.

Go with a traditional teaching/course methods - you can learn to walk on water later.
 
Pluspinc: Would you have any time limits for your qualification course? If not, does that mean that I can pass the course even if I take a full hour for each shot?

Obviously, we aren't going to have all day to shoot in a real gunfight. We might not have exactly 2 seconds, or 3 seconds, or any other given amount of time, but since we don't know what will happen, we have to pick an arbitrary number, don't we?

Similarly, we don't know how many hits it will take to drop a real bad guy. But if we practice "shoot until the threat stops" with a paper target, we're going to be shooting all day, won't we? You can shoot five hundred rounds through the center of a paper target and it still won't fall down.

And when you ask, "This is in the dark and in slush isnt it?", are you implying that the rangemaster should lug wheelbarrows of slush into the range to make things realistic? That's a tough job when you're qualifying in July.

Then you ask, "Shotgun broke?" in response to the 25 yard portion of the course Erik describes. I guess your point is that the shotgun would be the weapon of choice at that range, but as you like to point out, the thugs are the ones who set the conditions of the gunfight. Are they going to let you call a "time out" so you can run back to the cruiser to get your shotgun? Or are you going to carry the shotgun with you all the time? I think you'll have a hard time writing a ticket with a shotgun in one hand.

You also ask, "And where do we get the barricade? Inflateable?" No, the barricade simply represents a range of things that can be used for cover, such as walls. If you review your videos of actual shootings, you'll see that many of them take place in or near buildings. Unless you're doing your police work in the middle of the Bonneville salt flats, odds are pretty good that there's going to be something around that can be used for cover.

Yes, I'm giving you some flak. I don't think that I would design a course quite like Colorado's, but you seem to be picking at the details even though you haven't posted any details for your own proposed qualification course.

Erik: Thanks for taking the time to post that. It looks like a very challenging course, especially if drawing from a retention holster. Do police officers in Colorado requalify on that course, or is it just what's required to graduate from the police academy?

I think that Pluspinc has some valid criticisms, mostly dealing with the over-emphasis on skills that probably won't be needed (such as reloading and shooting past 15 yards) and a lack of emphasis on shooting in low light.
 
Pluspinc: If you were the chief of a police force, what would you do to avoid situations like the one you pictured, where a cop did nothing while her partner was attacked?

My guess is that you attribute her lack of action to fright. Is there any way to screen out officers who will be paralyzed by fright?
 
Here's one more idea I'd like to throw out for the forum's consideration, even though it's off topic:

Would it be feasible to have random inspections to make sure that an officer's weapon is clean and ready to shoot? I'm guessing that most police departments have random drug testing, so perhaps the sidearm inspection could take place at the same time.
 
That should come out in the Academy during the Arrest Control course and then while under the eyes of the FTO.
Panic can happen to anyone however.
 
The course description posted above is very close to the state mandated course of fire. I think I got most of it right, though the times may be slightly different. If I got something wrong, by all means, please let me know. Either way, it is still a good 50 round basic course. Yes, it is required to complete at the academies in order to receive Peace Officer certification. Yes, every department I know of uses it to requalify their officers and deputies.

Erik
 
Pluspinc,
Others have given you flak so I'll try not to. :) There are several reasons for a course of fire such as the one I posted:

1. BASIC introduction to firearms handling and skills. The idea is to familiarize individuals assumed to be unskilled in firearms with basic pistol techniques. The course is also designed to allow instructors to evaluate their students and make the necessary suggestion for improvement.

2. Liability coverage in court. All shootings will be thoroughly reviewed in this day and age. Courses must be able to meet the courtroom tests which may be thrown at them. Broad skills coverage, regardless of personal preferences, act as a sort of blanket insurance for departments and the state.

3. The course of fire in mandated to be 50 rounds. So obviously rounds must be allocated for various drills. Two rounds here verses three rounds there is arbitrary because of the parameters- in real life, which this is not, by all means please do continue to fire as necessary.

4. Of course officers must be taught to draw from the holstered position. That is were their pistol is. No, officers as a rule do not go around with guns out. Yes, they should have them out when they perceive a threat. But often times they do not. This is a situational awareness problem, though, and should be drilled into them long before they hit the range. But they must practice from the holster, especially in this day and age of retention holsters, or more and more officers will go down with their guns un touched.

5. The barracade is thrown in for training purposes. This is training and qualification we are talking about. I'm sure you are not suggesting that people not train to use there environmental atvantages when they can? I'm willing to listen to arguments as to why it should not be addressed.

6. Shotguns are great. Officers usually do not have their shotguns with them out of the car unless reasponding to a known threat, for a number of reasons. It would be a sad day indeed to read of an officer ambushed without a shotgun who failed to return any fire simply because the range involved was over 7 feet. This is a pistol course we are talking about.

7. This is Colorado and yes, we have sunshine, snow, rain, slush and the sun goes down and comes up each and every day.

8. It IS political reality that officers are barely encouraged to be thoroughly familiar with their weapons. I advocate the opposite, of course. With training, time and effort scores go up. I mentioned that scores should be in the 200s, but unfortunately are not. Mine are, because it is a point of pride for me. The course has nothing to do with this, however, it falls on the individual.

I could go on, but I think you get my drift.

I do agree that added training should cover the "oh s&*t" cenarios. I simply do not agree that we should reinvent the basics. I advocate frequent refresher and advanced courses of fire.

Erik
 
First of all in Minnesota and most of the nation we have winter and rain storms. Why would we NOT shoot in those conditions? If we are serious about reality rain won't stop qualification courses, nor should snow and blizzards. IF we are serious about reality.
Of course we want training to be FUN and entertaining like hockey. Many officers would not even attend in such conditions and most ranges close during such seasons. Kinda silly if you think about it. The ONLY reason we would cancel an outdoor shoot is lightening. But one student said after being a cop he wouldn't notice a little thing like that.
Put on your thinking cap. In the first course of our shooting we limit the gun to 6 shots including semi autos. A good reason. I watch the student process the information of figuring out how many shots are fired. A simple task like counting to 6 becomes overwhelming for most. It tells us a lot. Wish I had more room for detail.
We tell students to KEEP SHOOTING because believe it or not we can STOP if we see the threat is gone. But to tell them to shoot TWO and stop is a menu for disaster. I had one student shoot a thug that way (he read gun magazines) and he told me the guy gave him a damn dirty look. " I knew I was in trouble and I started shooting again and kept shooting until he fell over. I'm lucky he didn't kill me." he told us. BTW he hit 5 for five in low light.
To even think a shooter should try two shots is nuts. Maybe one will do the job. Great.But with most handguns I think I'd consider more application of available inventory to make sure I go home. I'd hate to think I was one bullet short of that.
Speaking of Colorado and this great system they have. Here is their last report on their HIT rate.
Denver Police Department 18% hit rate (SWAT included) all distances
+++++++++++++++
Gee, what happened? I don't think that system is the one I want to use. IF we are serious about liability that is a lot of lead floating around out there with no place to go. Of course Denver has a LOT of excuses for it. But will do more of the same.
Don't ignore it. Tell ME how to bring up their hit rate. YOU TELL ME. Here's YOUR chance. No tap dancing. I'm waiting.
 
Pluspinc: Why are you bringing weather into this? No one else said that their qualification course was for fair weather only.

> Why would we NOT shoot in those conditions?

Because... the only range we have is indoors? Or maybe our officers are so poorly disciplined they refuse to train in bad weather. Otherwise, go ahead and shoot.

> But to tell them to shoot TWO and stop is a menu for disaster. I had one student shoot a thug that way (he read gun magazines) and he told me the guy gave him a damn dirty look. " I knew I was in trouble and I started shooting again and kept shooting until he fell over. I'm lucky he didn't kill me." he told us. BTW he hit 5 for five in low light.

So your student double-tapped, paused, then fired three more shots. All hit and he survived. This sounds like an example of success, not disaster. Yes, he also could have just fired five shots and then stopped when the bad guy stopped being a threat. Does it matter if the tempo was BANG-BANG, BANG-BANG-BANG or BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG?

Let's get back on topic: On our qualification course, do we just point our officers towards a paper target and tell them to shoot it until it falls down?

> Denver Police Department 18% hit rate (SWAT included) all distances

Given that the national hit rate for police is about 10%, it sounds like the Denver PD is doing almost twice as well as average. Shouldn't we be try to bring the other PDs up to Denver's level instead of trying to improve Denver?

> Don't ignore it. Tell ME how to bring up their hit rate. YOU TELL ME. Here's YOUR chance.

The first thing I'd do is look for a police department with a significantly higher hit rate and then see what I could learn from them. Does such a PD exist?
 
First of all the student is alive because of LUCK..not double tap. It damned near got him killed. I don't like luck for a survival source. To fickle for me anyways.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
> Denver Police Department 18% hit rate (SWAT included) all distances

Given that the national hit rate for police is about 10%, it sounds like the Denver PD is
doing almost twice as well as average. Shouldn't we be try to bring the other PDs up to Denver's level instead of trying to improve Denver?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
So you agree the present system has a 80% failure rate and we should strive to ACHIEVE that rate of failure and accept it? How much longer do we need? Another few decades? That is a LOT of bodies and wounded to me. I don't want to be one of them.

> Don't ignore it. Tell ME how to bring up their hit rate. YOU TELL ME. Here's YOUR
chance.>

The first thing I'd do is look for a police department with a significantly higher hit rate and then see what I could learn from them. Does such a PD exist?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
NO. Even when they spin doctor the hell out of the stats the figures make you flinch. A dept will take one or two shootings and try to show it is a trophy. Wish it was that easy. The real success stories come from individuals not depts. In fact, those involved in actual shootings are seldom recruited into training unless they walk the company line to the letter.
 
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