By Rich Griffin
For the last week or so, there has been a non-descript tractor
trailer (sans tractor) parked next in City Yard lot on Williams
Street. It's completely white, seemingly innocuous. It looks just like
every other truck in the produce market.
Step inside its doors, though, and you quickly realize the
trailer's cargo isn't fruit and vegetables. It's sidearms and
shotguns.
Twice a year, the Chelsea Police Department rents the trailer - a
mobile firearms training range -from Blue Line Corp. of Beverly.
Massachusetts police officers are required to take an annual firearms
exam to remain certified in the use of the service weapons. That's why
the trailer, which left the City Yard last Sunday, was in Chelsea. The
department will rent the trailer again in six months or so for more
training exercises.
Chelsea police officers had been coming and going out of the trailer
for most of a week to be certified in the use of two weapons: their
sidearms, a Glock .40 caliber and a Binelli semi-automatic shotgun
that every squad car is equipped with.
The range has three bays, moveable targets, soundproofing and more
bells and whistles than can be listed. The police department's two
firearms instructors, Patrolman John Gravallese and Sgt. John Nee, can
simulate every situation minus rain and snow. The heat can be cranked
to increase the stress levels of officers in already stressful
situations, or it can dropped so officers can learn to deal with
decreased motor function in an arctic setting. A strobe light
simulates the visual problems an officer encounters when he or she
steps out of the cruiser and are placed into a dangerous situation,
and the lights can be dimmed to simulate nighttime conditions.
When the trailer returns six months from now, Chelsea officers will
utilize its best feature - its "shoot/don't shoot" Live Firearms
Judgment Simulator, or as most teenagers would call it, The Best Video
Game Ever. A large video screen at the end of the trailer can simulate
over 140 different situations, from basic traffic stops to hostage
situations. Officers must make up their minds in fractions of a second
to determine whether, for instance, the person approaching them on
screen is carrying a harmless Wiffle ball bat or a machete. "That's
the real deal," said Captain Brian Kyes. "It's not like before when
we'd go to the range and we'd have 10 guys just standing in line,
waiting to shoot. These training exercises have practical applications
for officers on the street."
Chelsea's finest aren't the only ones who like the trailer. City
officials praise it for its cost effectiveness. Renting the trailer
costs the department $18,000, which represents a savings of
approximately $12,000. When the department's headquarters was
refurbished, no shooting range was included. That meant officers had
to travel to ranges across the state at a cost of about $30,000. Not
only does the department save money by renting the trailer, but its
officers receive superior, and oftentimes, one-on-one training. City
Manager Jay Ash liked the idea of the trailer so much that he included
a line item in this year's Capital Improvement Plan to purchase a
trailer, but that idea has been shelved for the time being.
Renting the trailer also cuts down on overtime costs. "We can pull an
officer off the street for half an hour and provide them with training
they need," said Gravallese. "Before, we'd have 10 guys in a line,
with three instructors. With this, they get individual training, and
if they have to go out on a call, they can be in their cruisers within
seconds."
Every Chelsea police officer, from the greenest rookie right up to
Chief Frank Garvin, took part in the certification. Gravallese said
officers fired 10,000 rounds from their Glock service weapons and 500
shotgun shells. "This trailer is excellent for the department for a
number of reasons," Kyes said. "The cost effectiveness of it is
something we're very happy with, obviously, and training-wise, it's
second to none." |
