NCJ Number
76360
Journal
FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin Volume: 49 Issue: 7 Dated: (July 1980) Pages: 1-5
Date Published
1980
Length
5 pages
Annotation
A police firearms training course that uses simulations that require participants to decide whether or not to shoot is described.
Abstract
The Newport News, Va., police training 'Shoot-Don't Shoot' program offers recruits and active officers an opportunity to participate in controlled high-risk situations. The simulations provide realism that prepares participants to make quick and proper decisions in life-threatening situations. Members of the tactical team are used as actors in the simulations, which employ real guns with blank ammunition. The exercises are conducted in an abandoned two-story building that has two long corridors with a number of rooms where the situations are staged. The training begins with a briefing which emphasizes safety, self-preservation, aggressiveness, and respect for life and property. Recruits are shown the department's suggested techniques for displaying their firearms, conducting searches, disarming suspects, and properly conducting themselves in a given situation. Once the officers are in the building, they move one at a time, to the second floor, where each is given a .38-caliber revolver, blank ammunition, a protective vest, and safety glasses. Each officer is escorted through the exercise by two or more ranking police officers. Each officer is rushed from one simulation to the next, while being barraged with questions from superior officers about many misjudgments. Situations are changed in some manner for each officer to prevent officers who have completed the course from preparing officers about to enter the training.