Firearms Training

Some words of advice to anyone who has ever thought about becoming a criminal:
Do not wear this mask while committing a crime.

If you have been wondering why I am just getting around to putting up blog posts from Easter Events, this guy is the reason. I have been a Police Department Firearms Instructor for over 20 years. Due to Departmental Needs, I was instructing on the Firearms Range for eight consecutive weeks. Although I attempted to keep a day a week open for Police Center operations, it didn't always work out that way. Now that I am back, I am still chasing my tail, but I am slowly catching up.

In addition to qualifying on a paper target course, the training included "force on force training." This scenario based training involves the use of handguns (same make as ours) that fire a non-lethal paint-loaded projectile. Officers are presented with scenarios where they engage adversaries that think, move, and shoot back. This type of training allows officers to participate in realistic training scenarios where mistakes can be exploited and corrections made with out the loss of life.

The mask in the photo is the one I wore while playing an adversary who, most often, used deadly physical force against a police officer or citizen in the scenarios. Needless to say, I got shot, wrestled to the ground, and handcuffed a lot.

Although, the eight weeks of instructing firearms training put me behind at the Police Center, I find it very rewarding to belong to a Police Department committed to providing its officers with the highest quality of policing skills. Such skills equip us to serve and protect the citizens of our city.

God Bless,

Officer Clarke