Langenator
Member
My kind of range officer. Sounds like TPD has a pretty good facility, although they apparently had some serious problems with weapons and ammo accountability (how the F#$% do you let that happen?)
http://www.tribnet.com/news/story/4936690p-4866263c.html
Tighter grip on guns, ammo
STACEY MULICK; The News Tribune
From his desk at the Tacoma police firing range on the Tideflats, Sgt. Jim Bass can watch officers shooting at paper targets outside.
He also can keep an eye on the weapons vault and see who's coming and going, though strangers rarely wander in because the range isn't open to the public.
On his computer, the 34-year police veteran can pull up databases and see who's got a department-issued handgun or rifle, and when they last were tested with the weapon.
Bass, who returned to oversee the firing range last August, created the databases to better track the weapon inventory.
The lack of that kind of master list was one of the criticisms leveled against the department by a state audit released last month.
"The lack of controls over firearms and ammunition increases the risk they could be misappropriated, lost or misused without timely detection," the audit stated.
The audit, which covered city practices for 2002, found the police range had no master list of firearms or an ammunition inventory.
Range staff members also did not restrict access to replacement firearms and ammunition, according to the audit.
That's no longer the case, Bass said.
"I can account for bullets to the case," Bass said. "I've got records in and records out."
He's also changed the locks and codes to the alarm systems, and clamped down on access to the vault, where ammunition and spare weapons are stored.
Before, a group of firearms instructors could get into the vault. Now only Bass and the police officer assigned full-time to the range can.
"We feel like we need to control this stuff a little more," Bass said.
He also reorganized the vault so he knows exactly what's inside.
"You can walk in there and detect if something is not what it should be," he said.
In addition, police officials are creating within the city's new computer system a master list of the department's firearms, including handguns, rifles and weapons assigned to speciality teams.
"We are drawing all of our separate databases together and putting them into one database," said assistant chief Paul Mielbrecht, who oversees the department's Administrative Services Bureau. "We're going to be able to track down wherever the stuff went and who has it."
A member of the range staff is always present when someone is practicing their aim or cleaning their pistol.
"You can't just walk out there and say you are going to shoot on the range," Mielbrecht said. "The range master can only have so many people out there at a time."
The range, tucked against a looming hillside on the Tideflats, is the department's firearms training grounds and includes a range house and several outdoor shooting areas.
"This is a wonderfully unique location out here," Bass said on a recent sunny afternoon as 14 newly hired officers got their first taste of shooting on the police range.
A plush green lawn provides 24 shooting lanes. Up to 10 additional targets can be set up into the nearby hillside.
Inside the long, one-story range, house officers reload their weapons at a table overlooking the shooting lanes.
Officers grab fresh bullets from ammunition buckets that are out only during training and kept locked away otherwise.
The smell of cleaning fluid hangs in the air near a row of stations where officers take apart their guns and clean them.
A classroom and the office bookend the rectangular range house. The office, which contains the weapons vault, is locked when staff members are on the range and no one is inside.
Officers fire at paper or metal targets three to 50 yards away. They use plywood props to practice shooting around walls, through windows and from the ground.
Other courses challenge officers with moving targets or provide sharpshooters with distance targets.
Commissioned officers must be tested with their department-issued weapons twice a year, firing 61 rounds from a pistol and 40 rounds from a rifle at a target. They are graded on their marksmanship and speed.
In addition, range staff members set aside at least one day a month for "open range," when officers can practice their shooting.
Officers typically spend a couple of hours practicing at the range. On average, they will fire about 300 rounds each, officer Bob Maule said.
Bass also tries to accommodate officers who want to show up outside of the open range hours.
"It's not my range; it's your range," Bass tells officers. "I try to get them to shoot."
In addition to Tacoma officers, several other law enforcement agencies and military units rent the facility for training and firearms qualifications.
With so much demand, the range is rarely quiet and a range staff member is always around whenever it's in use.
"We are just babysitting the range and overseeing safety," Bass said.
State auditors will review the range operations to see what changes were made to address the 2002-related findings.
"We always follow up and look at what they did," said Mindy Chambers, spokeswoman for the auditor's office. "It looks like they are developing a system to get it fixed. Those are all good steps."
Stacey Mulick: 253-597-8268
[email protected]
