Lightraven
Flashlight Enthusiast
- Joined
- Sep 2, 2004
- Messages
- 1,170
My training supervisor was shot multiple times by a fellow officer during an undercover operation in which he was mistaken for a bad guy. He survived fortunately. It's simply one of the many risks that law enforcement entails.
Just a few notes. My agency has no "double or triple tap policy." We shoot until the threat is no longer a threat. In most cases, that is a single shot. People seem to reevaluate their behavior after being shot. Quite a few die.
The best solution is to have your identification/badge come out with your gun. Officers are paid to have good judgment, but with limited information and an apparent do-or-die situation, there is a limit to what can be expected.
In one range exercise, we engaged three bad guy targets in low light--one was holding a hostage and one was wearing body armor. A fourth target was hanging 20 yards away, too far and too dim to make out. Since it was a day time training class, I had not brought my flashlight (!!!) After shooting the three bad guys (head shots for the body armor and hostage taker) I chose to hide behind "cover" and observe. After a few seconds, the range officer said, "Well. . .what do you do now?" I said, "I observe from behind cover." He became a bit irritated. He told me to get up and let's walk down range, prepared to shoot.
As I got closer, I saw the target was holding a gun pointed towards me. As I was about to open fire, I noticed the guy was also holding a badge. I didn't shoot, but to see the many, many holes in the target, I was unusual. In fact, the range officer said that I was the only officer that day who didn't shoot the cop! And he said in front of everybody that I made the wrong decision! Yeah, my agency firearms training is world-class. Good thing I ignore a lot of it.
Just a few notes. My agency has no "double or triple tap policy." We shoot until the threat is no longer a threat. In most cases, that is a single shot. People seem to reevaluate their behavior after being shot. Quite a few die.
The best solution is to have your identification/badge come out with your gun. Officers are paid to have good judgment, but with limited information and an apparent do-or-die situation, there is a limit to what can be expected.
In one range exercise, we engaged three bad guy targets in low light--one was holding a hostage and one was wearing body armor. A fourth target was hanging 20 yards away, too far and too dim to make out. Since it was a day time training class, I had not brought my flashlight (!!!) After shooting the three bad guys (head shots for the body armor and hostage taker) I chose to hide behind "cover" and observe. After a few seconds, the range officer said, "Well. . .what do you do now?" I said, "I observe from behind cover." He became a bit irritated. He told me to get up and let's walk down range, prepared to shoot.
As I got closer, I saw the target was holding a gun pointed towards me. As I was about to open fire, I noticed the guy was also holding a badge. I didn't shoot, but to see the many, many holes in the target, I was unusual. In fact, the range officer said that I was the only officer that day who didn't shoot the cop! And he said in front of everybody that I made the wrong decision! Yeah, my agency firearms training is world-class. Good thing I ignore a lot of it.
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