Firearms

Firearms training should be done as soon as possible when a cadet joins the force (if it is felt suitable). Firearm training allows the cadet to carry a class 1 firearm on duty with them. This isn’t a test, it’s more about learning Firearm discipline than proficiency at this stage.

When carrying out the training you should:

1. Go to the Armoury, the Instructor is to pick up required amount of Class 1 firearms and ammo for the Cadets in training, Tasers, Taser ammo, Torch, Camera, Empty Evidence Bags and Hand Cuffs if the Cadets don't have them.

2. Go to the Firing Range.

3. Begin the teaching by first running through the 3 primary case laws we operate to, Terry vs Ohio: which centres around Reasonable Suspicion and being able to Frisk a suspect if we believe they have or will commit a crime and we believe they are also armed and dangerous, Carroll vs United States which gives us the lawful right to search a suspects vehicle without a warrant, as long as we have Probably Cause from a crime and believe evidence is within the vehicle and Tennessee vs Garner, which will be covered in this training. These aren't the only Case laws we operate to but are the primary. Advise the Cadets where they can find the SOP's and Case laws with the Info Hub, in the Handbook and Penal Code within the Roster section.

4. Run through the Tennessee vs Garner case law which cover officers to use deadly force when they have a good faith belief that suspects pose a threat to life of other officers and civilians in vicinity of the suspect and/or crime. Remind that our option to use deadly force should always be our last resort, our utmost priority should always be to preserve life wherever possible.

5. Next, ask if the Cadets have heard of the Force Continuum and run through the 5-level pyramid of scaling threat level with us being able to be 1 level higher if necessary.

6. Next run through that not only can we escalate to be one class above suspects, but we can also de-escalate and move down weapon class if the suspects do. i.e., if we see that the suspects are carrying class 1's, we will ideally match them with our class 1's. If we see that the suspects have Class 2's, we will switch to our Class 2's. We can always choose some officers to have class 2's out and some officers to remain at class 1 as not all officers on scene will have class 2's available.

7. We would de-escalate, for example, that if a suspect was to flee from their vehicle and they had their firearm drawn, we would draw ours (matching class), if they were to put theirs away, we would put our firearm away and draw our taser, that's if we are the primary in the foot pursuit and we had backup, the secondary officer in the chase would remain with their firearm drawn. If you are alone in the foot pursuit remain with your firearm drawn, as they can reach for theirs again at any time. In the situation where we saw the suspect had a class 2, but they put it away for their class 1, we would likely remain with our class 2's out as we have seen their class 2 weapon, which they could switch to at any time, but also, we are covered to be 1 class above them.

8. Remind that our Taser (Non-Lethal, level 4 on the Force Continuum) is the preferred option if you're in a foot chase and the suspect is unarmed so that we can tase if necessary if they continue to flee after being cuffed and several warnings to stop.

9. If a suspect is coming at you with a melee weapon i.e., Knife/stick to attack you, we would switch to our class 1's and put them down. We not only are covered to be one class above them, but we are covered by the Tennessee vs Garner case law regarding threat to life and if we were to match class with our Nightstick and they got the first hit in, they are most likely going to down us and we aren't going to be getting into some stick wielding fight. Put them down for everyone’s safety.

10. As a final example, if you are at a store robbery and the suspect has their firearm trained on the shop keeper and you go in to try to calm the situation down and negotiate for the shop keeper’s life with your class 1 out.... and the suspect turns to aim their weapon at you, removing the threat to the shopkeeper, put them down, do not hesitate. That is a direct threat to your life as per the Tennessee vs Garner caselaw and you can't trust whether they won't pull the trigger on you.

Now moving into the range.

1. At this point the instructor can hand over a Firearm, ammo, Taser and ammo and Cuffs to each Cadet, reminding them to "keep their safety on", load the firearm with ammo but do not shoot at this time.

2. As the firing of the weapons will be starting shortly, explain about sending a /311 to “ignore shots fired at MRPD, in the range” and ask one of the Cadets to do this to make sure all is understood.

3. Now you can run through the Class 1 Firearms training, with each Cadet taking up a position in the booth, alternating Body/Heads shots on the targets, getting a feel for the weapon, reloading and rate of fire. The instructor can make the callouts to alternate Body/Head shots with several in to each. Advise on the use of crouching/rolling and taking cover to make officers a harder target for suspects to hit.

4. Instruct the Cadets to holster their firearms, step in to the range to inspect the targets and pull out their torches/cameras. Explain the impacts on the targets, the bullet traces and show the casings on the floor in the booths. Explain how to photograph, pick up evidence and then clear the scene /clearevidence.

5. With that the basic firearm training is done, now move on to some Taser Practice.

6. Starting with making sure the taser is loaded, you will require 1 volunteer to get tased, to run around the Target area in the range.

7. The Cadet will be required to hit the volunteer with a taser shot, run over, and call out they are going for cuffs and cuff the suspect. Explain the difference between Soft Cuff (F1 - Cuffs), where the suspect can still flee and Hard Cuff (F1 – Full Cuffs), where leg restraints are also applied, where the suspect then cannot move.

8. To finish the training you can run a situation to check their awareness and make sure they choose the correct protection for the situation. You can pretend the Tasers are live firearms (as we don’t have rubber bullets) and initiate a foot pursuit with tasers in hand and advise the cadet not to tackle for this exercise. The instructor is to be chased by the Cadet. During the pursuit the instructor is to reach for their taser and turn to fire at the Cadet.

The Cadet should take the shot before the instructor gets their shot off.

Discuss what just happened and whether they made the correct choice or not. It is not so important in that test if the Cadet misses their shot, as long as they chose the option to shoot.

9. Basic Firearm training is now complete; questions can be asked/answered, and more demonstrating can be shown if required.

10. If the teaching officer is satisfied the Cadets have understood the theory side and have demonstrated they can handle their weapon with competence and confidence, then they can sign off their Basic Firearms training and the Cadets can go out into the field with their Class 1's.

Once Cadets pass out to Officer, more Advanced training will become available for Class 2 and 3 Firearms where we will cover actual situations at some mock-up locations which will cover more situational awareness on active scenes from start to finish. Where we'll be using dispatch calls, 10 Codes and callouts on the scene which will likely include several other officers/SWAT with EMS on standby to help officers back to their feet after being wounded by "Rubber Bullets".