Question For Leo's

[USMC 1975]

I have a simple question for the LEO's who are members on this site.

Out of curiosity, how often are you required to qualify / re-qualify ?

Also, is there a mandated departmental policy for spending so much time at the range every year or is it up to the individual officer as to how often they shoot ?

Thanks,

Chris

 

[CaptMac]

Qualifcation

When I was a local cop the State of North Carolina Required once a year with each weapon carried daytime and night time, with whatever ammunition was actually carried. The agency would conduct firearms "training" aside from the "Qualification" quarterly. During training we would use what was called "white box" Winchester ammo not our carry ammo. Was a big savings using the standard FMJ stuff for training and just using duty stuff for qualification.

With the Federal agency I work for now the Agency requires every 6 months on the handgun, and SMG, and yearly on the shotgun.

 

[isp2605]

4 times a year and a low light shoot. Includes handgun and shotgun, including transitioning from one to the other. Rifle qual is additional range time. Off duty/secondary weapons are additional range time. Rds fired at each session varies but minimum is 100 rds per session to a near couple of hundred rds in a session.
It's mandated policy for qual/training. You miss any of them then you're not carrying and will be disciplined.

 

[USMC 1975]

I know now days there are Police academies that have courses ( pop-ups, etc ).

Is re-training or going through the course mandated ? Have you guys had the chance to return to these courses ?

Sorry to ask so many questions. I am just curious on how you guys stay current.

Chris

P.S. Thanks to all the LEO's for your service. They never handed out big enough salaries to ever make me want to have been an officer. It's a very rough job these days.

 

[sacp81170a]

Out of curiosity, how often are you required to qualify / re-qualify?

State requirement in AR is yearly, otherwise what isp2605 said, with the addition of SIMS and force on force training. We also use junk autos to practice shooting into, out of and around vehicles.

 

[CaptMac]

Qualification

Yes, we use turning targets, as well as some steel.

Additionally we use a interactive training system for judgment shooting that can shoot back at you, its called a MILO system, it can shoot a .69 caliber nylon ball at you, if you are not making use of cover etc.

 

[MadMercS55]

When I was an LEO, my agency qualified with sidearms twice a year at 60rnds per time, 120rnds total. AR-15 once a year at 90rnds, Shotgun once a year at 20rnds. We also had monthly range time with free ammo. Out of a 27 man department, myself and about 5-6 others were the only ones who took advantage of it. I miss the free ammo part alot!

 

[Pilgrim]

My former department required range training every two months. There were two 'qualification' shoots per year, one day, one night.

All scheduled ranges were mandatory. However, getting everyone to comply wasn't easy. There were those deputies who always had an excuse why they couldn't attend. It seemed the higher the rank the more excuses.

Pilgrim

 

[bsf]

Yes, we use turning targets, as well as some steel.

Additionally we use a interactive training system for judgment shooting that can shoot back at you, its called a MILO system, it can shoot a .69 caliber nylon ball at you, if you are not making use of cover etc.

That sounds awesome. Was the nylon ball fire accurate, and did it hurt?

 

[CaptMac]

Nylon Projectile

Yes its propelled by air and its sighted and controlled by a joy stick. While you are going thru each scenario the nylon gun has a camera attached with crosshairs, as you go thru the senario the operater knows if its going to be a shoot scenario or not, and if its a shoot situation and the officer is not using cover that is avalible the instructor can aim the air gun and shoot. Yes it will leave a whelp on you if you get hit, batter a whelp in training than a hole on the street.

We teach folks be smooth and accurate, fast will come on its on if you work on the first two.

 

[bsf]

Nylon Projectile

Yes its propelled by air and its sighted and controlled by a joy stick. While you are going thru each scenario the nylon gun has a camera attached with crosshairs, as you go thru the senario the operater knows if its going to be a shoot scenario or not, and if its a shoot situation and the officer is not using cover that is avalible the instructor can aim the air gun and shoot. Yes it will leave a whelp on you if you get hit, batter a whelp in training than a hole on the street.

We teach folks be smooth and accurate, fast will come on its on if you work on the first two.

That sounds like a very cool system. I really like the penalty for failure to use cover.

I wish I could hardwire “Slow is smooth; smooth is fast.” into my brain. Some probably think my mantra is “Fast is bumbling; bumbling is slow.”

 

[Erik]

Armed personnel must qualify quartery with pistols and rifles and annually with shotguns. Additionally, they are required to complete low light training and any additional training required by the firearms instructor(s).

Going back a calender year, it worked out to an average of 8 range days per shooter, 4-8 hours in length, with approximately 2000 rounds per shooter sent down range.

That's in addition to simulator, less than lethal marking, defensive tactics, arrest control, and things lumped together as tactical training.

We may not have it as good as some, but we've got it better, training wise, than most.

 

[Sharps4570]

Once a quarter with our pistols, once every six months with rifles and shotguns, one night qualification per year, and once a year with any authorized back up weapons. Plus about 2 extra range days per year, and 1 shoot house day. We used to do way more, but that was 2 Sheriff's ago.

 

[167]

We qualify quarterly with all firearms (plus once a year night fire quals), and do additional force on force and dynamic shooting training at the same time. You have to pass quals or you don't work, and departmental policy requires that you shoot 10% above the state required minimum score. We are encouraged to go shoot on our time as much as possible, and are given an "ammunition allowance" of 100 rounds per month to practice on our own.

 

[patrolman]

we qualify quarterly with handgun, shotgun, and carbine. this includes one annual night qualification. with my agency, there is no required range time beyond the time spent during qualifications. we are required to score 70% A-zone (center of mass) hits with the handgun, 80% A-zone hits with the carbine, and put 5 slugs inside the A-zone with the shotgun.

 

[coyotehitman]

6 times per year with primary handgun. Twice with secondary handgun. Twice with M16's. Twice with shotguns. One low level light qual. No free ammo outside of this, no range access outside of this.

 

[coloradokevin]

quarterly qualifications on each weapon (we are obviously required to carry a pistol, but a Remington 870 shotgun and AR-15 are also authorized, with some stipulations).

The only "requirement" is to shoot one qual course per quarter, per weapon (approximately 42 rounds with rifle/pistol... and maybe 5 with shotgun).


Needless to say, most of us who 'care' shoot a lot more on our own! Or stay extra at the range on one of the various qualification days...

 

[hiccups]

Unfortunately my department's fuel, ammo and car maintenance budget come from the same fund and it hasn't grown in the last three years.

Were down to one 50rd pistol and 5rd shotgun qualification a year and no ammo outside of that. Most of us shoot alot more on our own, I try to shoot 200-500rds a month and my Sgt will usually sign off on 2-3hrs of monthly range time.

 

[WC145]

Maine requires annual firearms training/qualification. Different depts have their own requirements beyond that.

 

[GRIZ22]

The Federal agency I rteired from required qual every quarter with all handguns, shotguns, rifles, and smgs you carried. If you didn't qualify with it you didn't carry it. Included with quals were tactical training and shooting, night fire, simunitions, tactics, unarmed defense, etc. 8 hours per quarter were required and ir often was 12-16 hrs per quarter. The agency gave minimal shotgun, rifle, and smg training in the basic academy and agents were given training by firearms instructors who had to attend a train the trainer course so they could teach it.

Everyone shot at least 1000-1500 rds or so a year just to qual and shoot tactical courses with one handgun.

 

[AKCOP]

Quarterly with handguns, biannual with shotgun and rifle. Annually with duty handgun and duty ammo, all other qualifications with factory reloads. Annual night shoot. All shoots were in whatever weather came along that day, regardless of rain, wind, snow, below zero etc.
Record maintained of scores and weather. (department issued all firearms)

First dept I worked for had policy if you failed a qualification you were given 7 days to requalify, if you failed then you were suspened for 30 days or until you qualified, if you failed to qualify at the end of 30 days you were terminated.

 

[DontBurnMyFlag]

We qualify twice a year....

The qualification is a joke. Its basic 25 yards to 1 yard target practice. Alternating hands and firing positions. No stress fire whatsoever. 160rds total.

Its up to me to get to the range and practice real life shooting. Its also an out-of-pocket expense to take tactical courses or defensive handgun courses on your own time .

But the training in the academy is top notch. When I went through, there were stress fire courses, run and gun courses, pop-up targets of a shoot/no shoot scenario and electronic firearms simulation. And we got to play with simunitions as well.

 

[Country Boy]

We shoot 1 state handgun qualification a year with duty ammo, the rest is with practice ammo. In addition to the 1 state qual, we have 5 other handgun shoots + 2 cold weather shoots + 2 low light shoots. We shoot our 870's twice a year, and our M14's twice a year.

We try to get the troops some additional practice ammunition, but there hasn't been much extra coming from headquarters.

 

[themic]

Every quarter: on pistol, shotgun and SMG. We do a low-light and a transition drill training in addition to the qual.

 

[LiquidTension]

The state requires us to qualify once per year, and that's all the department does. This year they didn't even switch out our duty ammo - so it'll be at least 2 years old before it gets replaced.