Posted on May 26, 2018
Do more than 7 in 10 police bullets miss their mark?
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Advisory: in civilian life, my career was in law enforcement. I'm very pro-law enforcement. But I'm neither naïve nor blind. Over the years, I've been aware of various issues that negatively affected the professionalism of single individuals. I can relate all kinds of true stories involving the use of firearms. Other than reading this article, I do not have any statistics on this matter, pro or con. However, I will add this. There are a host of internal and external stimuli that occur during a shooting incident. I've been there and done that! All of it can and some, apparently, does affect accuracy. As to arming teachers or school staff is, in my opinion, an apples and applesauce debate. Again, there are and will continue to be many factors the would go into a school shooting incident than this article takes the time to mention. Seven out of ten misses by police. I hasten to point out that armed citizens took out a gunman in Texas yesterday who hoped to kill a lot of people at a restaurant. No mention of stray shots, but there was a dead gunman when the smoke cleared. So, relative to this intentionally skewed article, I say, "Tap, tap. center of mass. Bingo!!!"
Do more than 7 in 10 police bullets miss their mark?
Posted from politifact.com
Firearms and Guns
Gun Control
Crime
Police
Posted 6 y ago
Responses: 7
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In many shootings, both the target and the shooter can be moving, the conditions may not be great and you are, of course, in a life or death struggle so the adrenaline can be pumping. I know in many shootings a number of shots can miss the target that is the nature of the way these things happen.
You normally do not get a stationary target in well lighted conditions in air conditioned comfort, not shooting back, as you do on a range. The site radius on pistols is very short, it is very easy to miss unless you are in, very close. That is one of the reasons there are magazines with many rounds in them and cops are not using single shot pistols.
More realistic training and shooting courses would likely serve the cops on the streets much better than annual pistol qualification.
You normally do not get a stationary target in well lighted conditions in air conditioned comfort, not shooting back, as you do on a range. The site radius on pistols is very short, it is very easy to miss unless you are in, very close. That is one of the reasons there are magazines with many rounds in them and cops are not using single shot pistols.
More realistic training and shooting courses would likely serve the cops on the streets much better than annual pistol qualification.
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SCPO (Join to see)
Very well said, Jeff. Many police departments now have recurring firearms training that involves fully integrated digital shooting scenarios. This stuff is incredibly viable and useful in training police to shoot the right person and only the right person. I loved working with it. You're also spot on about all the physiological aspects of a shooting situation. The same things happen in car chases, many of which I participated in. When the whole affair was over, my legs were shaking so bad that I could hardly stand up. NEVER let anyone tell you that real, intelligent police officers live for car chases. They don't. No more than they hope to get involved in a live fire situation when they come to work!!!
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This is a subject that I have been harping on for years. I spent nearly 31 years as a LEO for a Medium sized (165 sworn) Los Angeles area municipal police department.
Unlike most departments in LA County we qualified once a month. Each month the course was changed. We fired at different distances, from various positions, from both inside and outside our vehicles, at moving targets, using both strong and weak hands, etc. We also had to regularly qualify with our rifles and shotguns. Many other departments in LA County qualified only a few times a year or even less. One of the biggest departments in the county (10,000 sworn) qualified 3 times a year. But they would allow you to shoot 3 times in a row, once a year. That department was notorious for many shots fired and many misses.
Going over the shootings at my agency over the 30 years I was there, we had a 95% hit average. Most shootings were 100% hits with an average of 3 rounds fired. But we also had a few where there were many misses which brought down the total average.
My point is this. Many departments will claim that they don’t have the money to increase range training. Yet, those same departments spend hundreds of hours a year on other BS training, often times that training is mandated by misguided governments.
It seems to me that range training should be of the highest priority on the police training curriculum. Not an afterthought.
Sadly, my department doesn’t do that type of training anymore. Mostly because they hired a retired LAPD commander to be our Chief who changed our training standards. Coincidentally, the last few shootings we had, which occurred after he took over and training standards changed, were mostly misses.
Unlike most departments in LA County we qualified once a month. Each month the course was changed. We fired at different distances, from various positions, from both inside and outside our vehicles, at moving targets, using both strong and weak hands, etc. We also had to regularly qualify with our rifles and shotguns. Many other departments in LA County qualified only a few times a year or even less. One of the biggest departments in the county (10,000 sworn) qualified 3 times a year. But they would allow you to shoot 3 times in a row, once a year. That department was notorious for many shots fired and many misses.
Going over the shootings at my agency over the 30 years I was there, we had a 95% hit average. Most shootings were 100% hits with an average of 3 rounds fired. But we also had a few where there were many misses which brought down the total average.
My point is this. Many departments will claim that they don’t have the money to increase range training. Yet, those same departments spend hundreds of hours a year on other BS training, often times that training is mandated by misguided governments.
It seems to me that range training should be of the highest priority on the police training curriculum. Not an afterthought.
Sadly, my department doesn’t do that type of training anymore. Mostly because they hired a retired LAPD commander to be our Chief who changed our training standards. Coincidentally, the last few shootings we had, which occurred after he took over and training standards changed, were mostly misses.
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MAJ Byron Oyler
One huge problem we have a lot of places is meeting the standard does not make you good. I am a pilot, nurse, NRA instructor, and unless you take steps to make yourself good, the standard will not. I would like to shoot once a week and monthly is about all I am getting to but even then that is much better than most Army nurses. I dropped $5K to get my paramedic license and question myself can I handle a mass casualty. I have worked vehicle accidents where I was the top dog medically and did fine, but I still question myself and plan to go take a week lone flight medic course. This attitude and your attitude is what makes people good and you just do not see as much of it as you should. Thanks for being a LEO and trying so hard to make it professional.
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SMSgt Thor Merich
Very true Major. I still shoot once a month. But many of my LEO brothers don’t take the responsibility of carrying a gun serious enough in my opinion. Most only shoot when the department tells them too. They don’t make the personal sacrifice that it takes to be truly good at it. I applaud you for you work ethic. It’s the mark of a true professional.
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CPT Lawrence Cable
While the State Police here have a very nice range with a Hogan's Alley section available to LEO in the State, I doubt that even the State Police use the pop up lane more than once a year. I suspect most departments in the state training means qualifying a couple times a year. Of course, there are departments like the NYPD that requires increased trigger pulls, 12 lbs for NYPD. I don't see how anyone could hit the side of the barn with one. Their instructors defend it by demonstrating how easy they qualify with it on the range. Have that instructor run a couple blocks with body armor and his service belt, engage a popup target while someone is shooting at him.
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This is why I’ve never been a fan of the way that marksmanship is done in the military or police agencies. You shoot at static targets from static positions. There is no movement or stress. In the real world, your marksmanship training doesn’t mean squat because you’re not static and neither is your target.
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