Mobile range comes to Melrose Police: Film scenarios test officers'
marksmanship and discretion
By Daniel DeMaina - Wed Feb 06, 2008, 10:46 PM EST
Staff photo by Nicole Goodhue Boyd
Melrose Chief of
Police Mike Lyle fires at a target in the rolling gun range parked in
a rear parking lot in downtown Melrose Wednesday afternoon. The
rolling gun range is actually a trailer that is taken to police
stations across the state for officers to perform firearm
recertification.
Melrose - As the officer
enters the bank, he sees the robber holding a gun to a hostage's head.
Does he hold his position and call for backup, or take immediate
action? Deciding he has a clear shot at the robber, the officer takes
aim and shoots.Then, the lights come up in the trailer. The officer
examines his accuracy and reviews his decision with the range
instructor.
Melrose Police officers had the opportunity last week to review
real-life situations such as bank robberies and school situations,
while fulfilling their annual firearm certifications, when a mobile
firearms training range was brought to the police station last week.
In addition to housing a standard, three-bay firing range, the
trailer — from Blue Line Corp. of Beverly — has a wall-sized movie
screen that plays over 400 scenarios that test not only officers'
marksmanship, but their discretion and on-scene assessment
capabilities.
Paul Polonsky, a former Ipswich police officer who started
Blue Line Corp. four years ago, said the movie scenarios go
beyond requiring officers to shoot either their sidearm or a
non-lethal weapon. While some scenarios have suspects showing
a gun, others have suspects without guns or suspects who say
they will surrender peacefully.
"It's also training for verbal commands," Polonsky said. "It's a
very good training tool in regards to, you saw this, OK, you should be
on the radio saying 'send more backup' or 'there's people injured.'
It’s not only shoot or don’t shoot. There are many other good things
you get out of it. You actually have to see it to appreciate it."
Melrose Police Officer Dave Akell, one of three members of the
force certified by the Massachusetts Criminal Justice Training Council
as a range instructor, said the movie scenarios replace the instructor
having to explain a hypothetical situation to the officer and then
have the officer respond.
"It's part of a live-action event … it's really a good capability
that the trailer has, so we're looking to incorporate that [in
training]," Akell said.
Melrose Police Chief Mike Lyle said usually movie scenarios for
officer training involve laser guns, not real weapons, that display
where the shots landed.
"With this one, the guys are actually shooting their service
weapons into a target," Lyle said. “It’s more of a real-life
situation.”
Polonsky said the trailer has scenarios not only for police
officers, but also for armored car companies, corrections
officers and even citizen scenarios, such as a home break, for
gun owners.
"The police officer scenarios range from anything from a hold up in
a store, to a domestic situation, to a school disturbance," he said.
"There's also officer hostage situations, where an officer is taken
hostage and there’s negotiations, and whether you shoot or don’t shoot
when you have a chance."
Cost savings, better training, chief says
Lyle said a car accident last year, in which four Melrose police
officers were injured while traveling to the firearm training range at
Fort Devens in Groton, prompted him to look into training options
closer to home.
"I
still have one guy [from that accident] out today," he said.
Lyle discovered the mobile trailer range through networking with
other law enforcement officials.
Since officers have to complete their annual certifications
when they are off-duty, the department has to pay overtime for
officers traveling the 45 miles to Fort Devens.
"Versus paying eight-hour overtimes, I pay four-hour overtimes when
people are off shift. We save time and money," Lyle said. "To go out
to Devens costs $200 a day [to reserve the range]. The day the guys
were all hurt, the range was reserved, so we had to pay that anyway."
Lyle said it costs $100 per man to 'qualify' and complete their
annual certification using the trailer range.
"If you usually pay a guy $400 of overtime, and this is just a
number I’m throwing at you, instead you pay him $200 for four-hour
overtime and $100 to qualify, your net saving is $100 bucks," he said.
"Economically its great, plus it saves wear and tear on the cruisers.
We don’t have to supply any targets, just our duty ammo and anything
else we use at the range."
In addition, officers can complete their training in the
soundproofed trailer after nightfall, unlike outdoor ranges like Fort
Devens, Lyle said.
"I apologized to all the neighbors for the 'loud nail guns,' as
they were described," Lyle said with a chuckle. "It's a muffled sound
… between fireworks and a nail gun, I would say."
Polonsky said the trailer also allows officers to simulate
nighttime or low-light shooting, something also unavailable at outdoor
ranges.
"It gives the officers a lot of experience in low light and even no
light situations where they have to use their flashlight. That’s a big
training tool for us now also," he said. "We also have, when we do the
lowlight training, the ability to put on blue strobe lights as if
they're pulled up next to a scene. The way the strobe lights and
flashing blue lights almost make you dizzy as you’re shooting, it
makes a good experience to have those going at the same time. It
really sharpens their skills in regards to shooting or being at a
scene."
The Massachusetts Criminal Justice Training Council requires
officers once a year training, but Akell said he and others would like
that requirement to increase.
"We're working toward that and this trailer will go a long way
towards that goal," he said. "It's recommended by the training
council, but there’s no standard in place. More is obviously better …
it's a perishable skill, like any physical skill. If you don't
practice, it deteriorates."
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