Police Train Citizens to Shoot

[dk-corriveau]

Nice article about a local program. It would have been nice to hear from the law enforcement officers about why they run this program, but what do I know about reporting.

Rookie shooters on target at NN citizens academy
First-time shooters often do the best, according to police instructors. This instance was no exception.BY SHAWN DAY
247-4816
May 30, 2006

NEWPORT NEWS -- Rick Ross picked up a gun for the first time in his life, stood seven yards from a paper target and fired seven shots from Newport News Police Department's standard-issue firearm: a Smith & Wesson .45-caliber handgun.

The bullets tore through the paper target, a small cluster of holes grouped near the target's mid-section.

"I wasn't expecting to get it that close," Ross said a few minutes after handing the weapon to his instructor, a Newport News police officer.

Beginner's luck? Hardly.

A half-hour later, Ross proved himself the top marksman in the 21st Newport News citizens police academy by standing 15 yards away, firing seven more shots and grouping each one in a cluster near the target's midsection. In the process, he proved firearms instructor and Master Police Officer Jeff Barley's point: Often, it's the rookie who surprises everyone and wins a shooting contest.

"I do a lot of photography, so you have a similar technique, clicking the shutter," Ross explained, shrugging.

The 49-year-old mechanical engineer for NASA joined Karen Ebert, an executive assistant to Newport News Mayor Joe Frank, as the class's best shooters during a recent class and low-key competition at the police firing range at Fort Eustis.

Ebert - shooting for the third time in her 24 years - exceeded her own expectations.

"I'm surprised these were all right here," she said, pointing toward a cluster of holes near the "Q" in the middle of the target.

Samuel Calhoun, a retired Air Force security officer, remained impressed with the firearms demonstration weeks after taking part in it. Calhoun fired a gun for the first time in nearly 30 years during that class, and he credited the police instructors with making the session a success.

"They were able to take people who had never shot before and make it an enjoyable experience," Calhoun said. "And they actually hit the target."

Rita Brothers could attest to that. After she passed the handgun to her instructor, Brothers, 62, stood in the sunlight and half-joked about her success at firing a weapon for the first time. Her paper target was riddled with seven holes.

"I'm blind and I've got arthritis," she said, smiling. "But I still got the trigger."

 

[hoghunting]

This is not strange or out of the ordinary. Many cities have a Citizens Police Academy. They are volunteers who go through training - not the police academy - to understand the duties of the officers. They help the police department by doing tasks to free up the officers for duty work. Usually once or twice a year, the volunteers get a range trip and drive the practice cars through the training course.

The Citizens Police Academy and their Alumni Group have a better understanding of the police procedures and the Police Departments get much needed help from citizens who live in the same towns. You might check to see if your city has a Citizens Academy.

 

[Trebor]

My town also has a Citizens Police Academy. We meet one night a week for about 8 to 10 weeks. We went to the mourge one night, meet with detectives another, talked about patrol on a third night, etc. The range portion was near the end of the class. We also got to do ride-alongs. We weren't recruited as volunteers or anything though. At the end, that was it.

It's a good program and worth a look to see if it's done in your area.

 

[Zen21Tao]

Am I the only one that gets a flash back to Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol?

 

[Standing Wolf]

It's good to see police officers doing what they can to prevent crime rather than just solve crimes after the fact.

 

[nomadboi]

Okay, now I'm jealous- the Seattle citizen's police academy didn't get to do any live fire!