Click/tap to watch videos on the reality of police qualification:
Accurately shooting a gun is not like using a camera. It’s not a simple “point and click.” Like any skill, shooting a firearm accurately requires constant practice and discipline. Firearm presentation, sight acquisition and alignment, trigger discipline, and follow-through are each skills that must be painstakingly developed before one can consider himself an accurate and reliable shooter. Shooters who can go from the holster to breaking multiple shots on target in less than a second didn’t get there by accident. It likely took hundreds of hours and thousands of rounds of practice.
The same is true for police. A uniform does not confer magical shooting abilities. Contrary to much public opinion, the level of training received by most everyday patrolmen is not close to being enough to make an individual a highly reliable and accurate shooter. Moreover, the annual or semi-annual firearms qualifications required in most departments are hardly stringent.
As an example, here are the qualification standards for Wisconsin law enforcement:
Over 40 percent of rounds are fired within 3 yards and over 85 percent are within 7 yards. Officers are required to fire only 12 shots at a distance of 15 yards or greater, and only ten of those must hit the target anywhere ignoring the vitals as the “D” zone is the outline of the entire silhouette including the pants and elbows. The “C” zone is the entire “bottle” (torso) area and is only used for shots 7 yards or less.
Yes, those are realistic distances in which a handgun is typically employed. The problem is the prolonged time limits that fail to reflect realistic time frames. A normal, non-athletic adult can move seven meters in about 1.5 seconds from a stationary, standing start. This qualification allows 4.0 seconds to engage a target at three yards.
You do not need to be a proficient shooter nor an efficient gun handler to pass a test like this, hence why most police are not skilled shooters.
The New York Times wrote about systemic problems with police shooting accuracy:
New York City police statistics show that simply hitting a target, let alone hitting it in a specific spot, is a difficult challenge. In 2006, in cases where police officers intentionally fired a gun at a person, they discharged 364 bullets and hit their target 103 times, for a hit rate of 28.3 percent, according to the department’s Firearms Discharge Report. The police shot and killed 13 people the previous year.
In 2005, officers fired 472 times in the same circumstances, hitting their mark 82 times, for a 17.4 percent hit rate. They shot and killed nine people that year.
In all shootings — including those against people, animals and in suicides and other situations — New York City officers achieved a 34 percent accuracy rate (182 out of 540), and a 43 percent accuracy rate when the target ranged from zero to six feet away. Nearly half the shots fired were within that distance.
This does not mean that all cops are terrible shots. Police who want to be good shooters, rather than cops who wear a gun only because they have to, are sometimes terrific shooters. The police officers that I’ve competed with in shooting competitions are often quite good. Many enjoyed shooting before joining law enforcement and became cops because the job gave them the ability to practice and develop their skills as shooters more than another line of work. But they didn’t become highly proficient shooters just because they chose to wear a uniform, it’s because they put in the time necessary to develop and maintain their shooting skills.
Unfortunately, police budget constraints make this type of training unfeasible for most departments. Uniformed personnel (police and military) that are good shooters got that way on their own.
I think a lot of civilians confuse qualified with gunfighter. There is a huge difference in mindset and tactics between the two. An officer should be able to qualify anytime. Surviving a gunfight with a determined foe is something a bit more difficult. SWAT is there for the gunfighters.
It’s been my experience with cops that most can’t hit the broadside of a barn and are ignorant of firearms knowledge in general. Countless times I’ve seen them at the table entering a gun show or a store and they have no idea how to manipulate the weapon controls or basic safety. And the SWAT guys are just there to play commando, most lack any prior military service and are just counting the days until they can flash bang and shoot a someone in their home for resisting a home invasion attack in the wee hours of the night. It’s past time to demilitarize them and curtail their abuse of the people and their God given rights.