Why are cops such bad shots?

[hyattnc]

There have been a number of incidents over the years not to mention my observation of many law enforcement members at my local range. It seems like any time I see a police officer take aim they hit everything else besides the target. One would think if you carry a tool for your trade then you would be a defacto expert with it. Shouldnt a plumber know how to handle a wrench? So why is it different with cops and firearms?

It seems to me the average pistol enthusiast has a better aim then the average officer. If there is ever a stronger argument for a CCW then its the fact that most cops cant qualify for IDPA whereas my mother...a woman in her late 80s...gets around IDPA just fine with her Wilson combat special.

 

[X-Rap]

Why must people speak in such generalities, shooting is like any other skill, you get out what you put in.
Some police like some in the general population want more to be social workers and a gun doesn't fit that template but they must unlike the general population carry it as part of the job. I think some departments feel the same way. I doubt that you will find a cop serious about his business that can't shoot up to snuff.

 

[JERRY]

Because bad guys are generally moving targets trying to kill you too.

Thats not what you can practice on the range.

 

[hyattnc]

It just seems like when there is any kind of shooting incident with the police all common sense and marksmanship goes out the window. How can someone squeeze of 17 rounds and 3 manage to get into the target? Thats just horrible and makes me wonder. Even if I wqs stressed to the max I think I could manage a little better than 3 rounds into the target.

 

[stumpers]

Even if I wqs stressed to the max I think I could manage a little better than 3 rounds into the target.

I would love to see you and your mother run through a shoot-house sometime...

 

[Bobson]

Shouldnt a plumber know how to handle a wrench? So why is it different with cops and firearms?

It seems to me the average pistol enthusiast has a better aim then the average officer.

You're wondering why a group of people with a specific hobby are better at that hobby than a group of people in a specific career field. That's a bit like wondering why people at a National Mechanics Convention are better mechanics than the 17 year old guys at Jiffy Lube.

The average pistol enthusiast is a pistol enthusiast.
The average cop can be an anything enthusiast. Most cops pursue the job because they want to help people, as opposed to pursuing the job because they enjoy firearms. Let's face it, if you're looking for a job where you get to shoot a lot, law enforcement is a poor choice, compared to the options available.

I agree though, that just as a plumber can handle a wrench, a cop ought to be able to handle a firearm. I don't agree that "most cops" are bad shots. My personal experience has lead me to believe the opposite.

 

[oneounceload]

Why do folks automatically ASSUME that someone who is LEO is also a gun nut that shoots often? For most cops it is the opposite

 

[zxcvbob]

Qualified immunity.

 

[Warp]

They were terrible shots. Check out the video: They were right on top of the guy, he had no cover, and he was barely moving (for a gunfight). The cops chased him down and confronted him in the crowd and then proceeded to quite literally mow down every bystander they could. Or so it would seem.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/...ing-nypd-bullets-shot-all-nine_n_1830007.html

 

[Deltaboy1984]

They don't practice as much because of the Cost of Ammo. Governments need to spend the cash to make sure they get as much range times as SF or Seals.

I grew up with a Deputy who spent 50-100 dollars a month on ammo and he was a dead eye shot and 95% of the folks he arrested knew it and gave no resistance. Some who didn't died for their lack of knowledge.
Every beat cop and detective needs to qualify once a month with their sidearm and every other month with their shotgun or rifle.

 

[Cal-gun Fan]

It just seems like when there is any kind of shooting incident with the police all common sense and marksmanship goes out the window. How can someone squeeze of 17 rounds and 3 manage to get into the target? Thats just horrible and makes me wonder. Even if I wqs stressed to the max I think I could manage a little better than 3 rounds into the target.

Your posturing and generalizations about police simply make you seem uneducated and disrespectful. You don't do their job, you haven't been put in the situations they have,a nd if you were, you probably would perform worse

 

[Sam1911]

Even if I wqs stressed to the max I think I could manage a little better than 3 rounds into the target.

Get back to us when you've DONE SO. It is a very easy thing to say. Even "harmless" force-on-force simulations show us this is far from often the case.

We practice as much as we can, but testing seems to show that the most trained shooters tend to see something like a 75% decrease in their accuracy when actually faced with incoming fire and overt hostility.

The one counter to that seems to be repeated exposure to such danger, but thankfully, most of our law officers do not have to face many lethal force encounters in their careers.

One of the very best shooters I've ever met (a guy who finished the first Sanctioned IDPA match I ever shot with not only the winning score, but a total points down count of THREE ) is a NJSP Detective Sargent. He once told me, "If you offer a cop a new pen or a new gun, he'll take the new PEN. It's something he'll actually get to use."

Cops are issued guns, of course, and most folks believe that the gun is somehow the primary factor in their job. But many cops go through their entire career never having to fire a shot in the line of duty. To be good at their jobs, cops have to be masters of a lot of different tasks. They have many skills they have to employ every day or every week. Shooting is not one of them.

We train cops to do many things, and spend as much time and money on that training as budgets and schedules will allow. But that's not "enough" and it never will be "enough" to insure that they will be able to meet the challenges the might face.

The average IDPA or USPSA competitor who puts one night a week, or at least a couple of Saturdays a month, into his or her shooting competition practice is really putting in far more (MANY times more, in fact) time and money into their shooting skills than we, the public, have the ability/budget to provide for even the very the most highly tasked law-enforcement officers.

 

[Larry Ashcraft]

The way this one is titled, it's going nowhere but downhill.

Closed.