Lavid2002
I have only really shot SA on revolvers. I have fired DA on a few occasions but not enough to know how accurate I was with it. Im sure it could be something I can learn
You certainly can, especially with a handgun that either comes from the factory with a decent trigger or has been fired enough to smooth out any minor imperfections. Tuned actions are even better.
When we used to shoot PPC, making 10/10 or 9/10 shots into the 10-ring at 25 yards was good shooting. Putting them all in to the X-Ring was excellent shooting. So it is quite possible to learn to shoot well out to 50 yards to get the basics. You then build on that experience to expand the skill set -- moving laterally, shooting one-handed, one handed reload drills, etc.
You mentioned shooting shotgun hulls with a .22.... good exercise. The trigger control you've learned for long guns only applies a little bit to handguns, especially in DA or defensive shooting. Handguns are harder to shoot well than long guns and require much more practice. You're good if you can hit those hulls at 15-20 yards each time. You're better if you can hit one per second. You're expert if you can do it one handed that fast.
Thats INSANE! You would think that the guys training these officers would have taken these things into consideration! I see a lot of guys who shoot shotgun shoot, then pump the hull into a garbage can. When I shoot my pump I literally have to hold the action if I want to do something like that because my instinct is to pump the gun as quickly as possible after shooting.
You have to remember the times. I'm pretty sure this was before you were born. Officers trained in 1967-1969 were living in an era where some folks still didn't lock their doors all the time, kids played outside in the streets and parks were safe enough for kids unsupervised.¹
Firearms training consisted of probably 32-40 hours of instruction to ensure recruits could hit their targets at 25 yards and keep 5/6 in the black on a bullseye or inside the 8-ring on a B27 silhoutte. Flashlight technique consisted of the FBI method or none at all.²
It's not surprising that there was a lack of "combat thinking" in the academy. Few incidents had occurred over the years where officers needed more than six rounds or the five to eight rounds of #00 Buck from the shotgun. Back then, the thinking was that in a prolonged shootout, the BG wanted to get away. If you were reloading you were under cover and your opponent was looking to get away from you... not aggressively charge in order to kill you.³
It really was a different America then. In most cities (at least where we lived) if someone was beating the crap out of his wife in the driveway, neighbors stopped it. If police arrived and the man was at gunpoint, the cops took charge, cuffed the suspect and the guns disappeared into waistbands or pockets while the owners told their version of events. In 1968, chances were that a gun owner was also a veteran of either WW-II or Korea. Younger ones might have been in Vietnam. Up until late '68,
it was legal to order a gun by mail or walk into a
hardware store, buy a handgun and ammo and walk out without filling out a single form.
¹
Mostly in the rural and growing suburban areas. Inner cities always had their risks.
²
The FBI method used the flashlight in the weak hand, extended away from the body horizontially or vertically. Shooting at the light thus meant missing the officer's body.
³
This began to change in the late 60's with politically-motivated radical groups taking a much more confrontational attitude. And often they were better armed than your run of the mill thug. 
