Realistic shooting scenarios help police train
By Pru Sowers
Fri Feb 20, 2009, 06:30 AM EST
WickedLocal photo by Pru Sowers
Officer Robert Palheiro tested his
decision-making abilities at a mobile firearms training range this
week.
PROVINCETOWN - "Drop the gun. Drop
the gun now!"
Officer Robert Palheiro drew his weapon and pointed it at a teenager
in a school hallway. Students were screaming and running away. As the
teenager swirled around and pointed his gun at Palheiro, the
Provincetown officer fired two quick shots. Instead of falling down,
however, the youth froze, the lights came on and Palheiro turned to
confer with a firearms instructor about his response. Was it
necessary? Was his use of force justified?
The instructor then pushed the "play" button on the video deck to
continue the scene. The student immediately fired several shots at the
place where Palheiro would have stood if the scene were real. As it
was, it was a simulated training tape. But if it was real and Palheiro
hadn’t fired his weapon, he would in all likelihood be dead.
"It's extremely useful," he said after the training exercise. “This is
about as lifelike as you can get. Hopefully, if this ever happens, you
won’t have to second guess what you should or should not have done.”
The entire Provincetown police force was scheduled to take the same
test as Palheiro this week. The officers reported to an unmarked
tractor-trailer parked in the airport employee parking lot Monday and
Tuesday. There, they loaded special bullets into their personal
firearms and went through a series of videotaped scenarios where they
were called on to quickly decide how to deal with potentially
dangerous situations. Their response and timing were then assessed by
a team of firearms instructors.
The trailer was lined with thick padding and the bullets disintegrated
when they hit the wall. The videos were projected on a white sheet
that showed several bullet holes after the end of a session.
"It's not a video game," said Provincetown Police Sgt. Jim Golden, the
department’s firearms instructor. "It’s a tool. We want to give them
the best skill set that we can because, God forbid, they ever have to
use those skills."
The mobile firearms training range is rented for two days each year
for $1,000 a day to train officers in "shoot/no shoot" scenarios. Some
of the video scenes involve students with guns, one dealt with a
disgruntled customer at an auto repair shop. And another showed a loud
domestic disturbance in progress where a third person entered the room
holding a gun. Palheiro shouted at the woman to put her gun down while
training his own weapon on the video screen. It was one of those close
calls where an untrained reporter would have fired. However, Palheiro
correctly judged the situation and held off. As the video unfolded,
the woman put her gun down without firing a shot.
"It offers excellent training on timing, threat evaluation and
decision-making skills," Chief Jeff Jaran said. "It puts officers in
real-life scenarios. A shooting range doesn’t offer this type of
simulation."
"[The firing range] gives me the ability to add a little stress. I can
add lights. I can add noise. It times an officer’s response and lets
them see what their marksmanship is under stress," Golden said.
This is the fourth year the mobile range has been used in Provincetown
and is part of the annual firearms training requirement for each
officer. Each one-hour session allows an officer to work through eight
to 12 different video scenarios with a debriefing after each with a
range officer.
"It's realistic training and useful training, a little bit outside the
pale. I like to think it keeps them engaged," Golden said.
|
