Getting more LEO's to come shoot?

[ktyler]

I am a LEO. I was shooting IPSC years before I was a cop so for me it was my hobby before entering the job. In the last few years I have started having kids so that limits my time on the range. Having kids changes your priorities. I work swing and that limits my work week family time. I have 5-6 days off a month with the wife and family, so the days of shooting 4 matches a month and 2 practice days a week are over.

As for most LEO's.....as it has been stated, it is just a tool to them. Is that a good attitude, no. I fought with this for years while I was a firearms instructor. Most officers now days are not ex-military and are not even exposed to hunting or shooting before becoming a cop. They are not into guns. Most departments do not value training. My department used to give each officer about 40 hours of firearms training a year. Not quals, training. Ranging from IPSC style courses of fire, basic swat for all patrol, tactics and shooting. Bring in a new chief about 4 years ago....and now we have about 5hours of training including quals. If you carry a rifle, you get 8 hours of department training a year. With departments placing no emphasis on shooting and training many officers just do think about it much.

IPSC matchs are also not always the most recieving of LEO's. I have personally experienced this when I shoot outside of my home club. You can hear the whispers, "he's a cop, better keep on that guy, cops are not very safe out here, bet he shoots like crap, I see how much they shoot, and most shoot terrible" (Electric earmuff are not always great) Only when they find out I'm a GM do they stop running their mouths. Then if you have the "questions guys" in your squad, you know the guy that walks up every few minutes and asks ....."Can I shoot someone if...............". This happens and it is annoying. Or they walk up and the conversation starts with, "I read in handgunner", or "So and so says......this tactic is best".

If your LEO's show up just be glad they are there. Match directors, please try to squad them with production shooters as most of them get a bit taken back by the race guns and gear. This will quickly pass after a few matches when they learn more about the game. Remember a LEO might not be there to win, they might be there to use the match as training. So they will shoot the stages differently. They might do retention reloads or shoot using cover. GREAT for them. encourge them and educate the others that do not understand what they are doing. If you know a LEO encourage them to shoot there duty gear so it costs them a lot less. Unfortunately duty gear is only allowed in level 1 matches, I wish this would change to encourge LEO's to shoot what they carry. I was considering shooting my duty gun and gear starting in 09 but since I can't use it in big matches, I am not sure I will make the switch.

Bottom line....Law enforcement is a great just a job, but it is still just a job. My life doesn't revolve around it nor should it. I need down time and time to explore other hobbies on my own and with the family. Just happens I also enjoy shooting, but I also stealhead and disc golf. Yep a well rounded geek.

Keith

[hitman_usmc]

I was shooting IPSC, 3-Gun, and IDPA in several different divisions before I was LEO. The problem occured when I became a LEO. I work weekends along with the other young guys. Several of my partners said they would love to try IPSC, but the only matches within 100 miles are on weekends. Almost all of the patrol officers that work during the weekdays are much older and have families to take care of and some even own their own businesses on the side. Around here LEO's are pretty much locked out of the game. The worst part is i now have thousands of dollars worth of guns, gear, and reloading equipment that just collects dust now.

[PhotoRecon]

We had good luck in getting a good number of officers from three different agencies to participate until about 18 months ago. I don't know if they all went to the same seminar or training but since then they don't want the public to see them shoot or train. I guess I can understand the need for keeping your tactics, training and abilities classified.

[ktyler]

One of the other problems LEO's have is these "tactical" instructors that teach classes to them say IPSC is bad and will get you killed. This instructors do their student a great dis-service. I have been to 3 classes taught by a "Chuck Taylor Combat Master Instructor". Every class he bashes IPSC and me. Also every class he challenges me to a shoot off......needless to say he loses. Many LE trainers do very little to expand their experience and knowledge base outside of of the LE classes. What ticks me off is when you ask these same instructors that bash IPSC if they have ever shot it.....the answer is always no, or only once. If they say once, they got embarassed because they got smoked at the match.

If shooting IPSC was so bad, then why do several GM's make big money teaching top level operators for the military and local swat teams. In fact I just got back from teaching our local swat team accurate speed shooting. A skill all IPSC shooters have at least at some lever but very few LE instructors will teach. There are some really good agencies that allow there instructors to teach these techniques but must just want the instructors to teach the qual so they can show on paper they did their job. Sad but true. One of our recent chiefs had the attitude it was cheaper to pay out the settlement than it was for training. If it only about the bottom line, he might have been right. But it is also about the officers and the citizens and no price tag can be put on the lack of training that ends in a bad shoot.

Invite the LEO's out to train/shoot. If you have the chance give them a IPSC intro training so they know what to expect. I did this and it helped get a few guys to start shooting it more. The range master has a bit of an ego so he won't shoot a match but he did start using some of our course design in training.

Keith

[JTew]

I am also in law enforcement. I believe that all the opinions here have most of the bits and pieces of the "whys" LEO's do not compete a lot. I have a couple from my department that compete. I know of a handful of others from various parts of the state that like to compete. I was in police work for 22 years before I tried any competition and it stuck and I loved it. Others have come once or twice and no more.

Speaking for my department, our officers get a part of a weekend off every 4 weeks and a full weekend off every 6-7 weeks due to how the schedule rotates. Most of the towns around us get every other weekend off. Most are not willing to give up one of their two days off to spend shooting and I do believe it is because they are just not gun people. I am fortunate enough to have a M-F day work assignments for the last 6 years which has allowed me to compete and I am a gun person. If I had the schedules mentioned, I would probably not be competing or would only on occasion be able to compete. I myself can only go to two matches a month or my loved one is not a happy camper and the stress of arguing about it is not worth it.

I believe it is invaluable the gun handling skills, shooting on the move skills and all around safety awareness I have been able to learn and achieve in the couple years I have been involved in USPSA. We are a pretty active department as far as firearm training is concerned and with myself being one of the range masters, we have taught and developed many of these skills for our officers. We even hold one or two USPSA type stages at each qualification and the officers love them. But even with all that positive training and exposure, out of 76 officers, only two of us really compete. I truly believe as many have expressed. You are either a gun person or not. If you are, you might try USPSA or another shooting dicilpine and out of those that try, it still seems that a small percentage will stay with it. I am glad I tried and now I just can't do without it.

Edited October 2, 2008 by JTew