DCJS Firearms Training

What is DCJS training? Is it similar to the mandatory firearms training for POST certification?

It looks like the training is for armed security officers. I don't see how it can hurt, but I'd check out the schools and instructors just like I would private sector training. There will likely be some schools that are "check the block" operations and probably some that take it more seriously.

Because a curriculum is approved by a state regulatory agency doesn't mean it's the best training available.

While I had some very good training in the Army and in LE after I retired from the Army, I also had a lot of "check the box" training.

By and far the best training I had was training I sought out in the private sector.

All of the training in the world isn't going to save you if it was a bad shoot. In fact it could work against you. Imagine how a jury is going to react when your instructor takes the stand and says that wasn't how you were trained.

A wall full of diplomas from all of the shooting schools you can name isn't going to protect you if the circumstances of the use of deadly force weren't right.

Several years back the owner of a local farm service company caught three people in his fenced in business lot stealing anhydrous ammonia to cook meth with. He was armed with a 12 gauge shotgun and when he confronted them, they ran. He shot and wounded two of them.

NO CHARGES WERE FILED!

A couple nights later several of us were sitting around the break room at the PD discussing the case. We concluded (correctly after talking with the state's attorney) that none of us could have done that even off duty on our own property without being charged. Why?

Because we were trained and experienced and he expected more from us. We were expected to know better.

Now the backstory is that the state's attorney wanted to send a message that it might not be safe to steal anhydrous. No one was killed so he thought it would be a good case to send a message. But it was in no way, shape or form a legal use of force under Illinois law.

I wonder if the state's attorney would have felt it was a good case to send a message to the meth cooks if the businessman had formal training?

Good Ol' Boy said:

Whether or not you were endorsed by the state or a Mag40 student wouldn't really matter as a civilian in court.

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It all depends on the circumstances of the use of deadly force. And if your instructor is willing to testify to how you were trained, why you were trained to take the action you did and that you acted the way you were trained, it can mean the difference between prison and freedom or winning or losing the civil suit.

That your training was relevant and an accepted response to an attack and that your actions were in accordance with that training can make a huge difference.

But the mere fact that you completed the training is meaningless and can work against you if your actions weren't consistent with how you were trained.