Some thoughts on Training

[Guest Phantom6]

Recently there was a thread elsewhere on this forum that dealt with a story about a HCP holder almost being tapped by a LEO. Unfortunately due to a bunch of tin-foil-hattery that thread was shut down prior to what I would consider a teachable moment being fully utilized.

In the news paper article the chief of detectives was quoted as saying something to the effect of "...people who believe they may hear a burglar to call the sheriff’s office or police department who are specially trained to clear the house. Don’t go and try to handle it." Well, yes and to a degree, no. The old saying of "when seconds count, the Police are minutes away" comes to mind. Why didn't the woman call the Police herself? Well, we'll probably never know but if you have a HCP you will recall that you have been warned about the dangers of "defense of a third party." Does this mean that the neighbor shouldn't have gone to the aid of his neighbor? Absolutely NOT! It means that extreme caution is needed and this is something that the HCP holder did not use based on what I read in the article.

I would submit that a properly trained individual would not have attempted to clear the house as was reported but would have done only what was necessary to get to the woman and her child and preparations for that would have begun on the phone when she called for assistance. My first thought would be to climb in the window of the room they were barricaded into and await back up (the Police). If that was not possible then make entry as close to the woman's location in the home and clear only what is necessary to get to her and again, call 911 and wait for back-up. Regardless of what one might see on TV or the movies, highly trained LEO or military folks will not make entry and clear a building alone unless forced by circumstance. Barricading up, dialing 911 and keeping the line open is the proper thing to do but without proper training many folks don't understand how vital this simple SOP is.

Someone in that thread posted the following:

"......Why wouldn't a citizen lower their gun when they hear cops announce themselves?"

While without witness testimony we will never know for sure whether they did or did not announce themselves we must understand that in combat situations, and without more information we should assume that the HCP holder was not a combat trained individual and therefore this may have been as close to a combat situation he had ever been in, there are certain and verifiable psychological and physiological changes that happen to the human being in high stress, life and death (combat) situations. Auditory exclusion, tunnel vision, loss of bladder and/or bowel control and the inability to rapidly make logical decisions are but a few of these. It's entirely possible and certainly probable that though the officers may have announced themselves he simply didn't hear them. This may also explain why he turned toward them with his gun in hand once he realized there were others in his "zone". Dave Grossman's book On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and Peace

would be a great resourse to begin understanding how the human body and mind works in high stress situations. Proper training and drills will reinforce what you will learn here.

There was also discussion regarding the lack of training the police had regarding their profficiency with firearms and the proper use of firearms protocol. At the risk of sounding like a LEO basher here, regardless of what we would like to believe, cops negilgently shoot people (innocents) at an alarming rate when you look at the numbers of shootings involving trained officers and those involving armed citizens. David Kopel, researcher and author of Trust The People: The Case Against Gun Control, (CATO Institute Policy Analysis No. 109) writes"On the whole, citizens are more successful gun users than are the police. When police shoot, they are 5.5 times more likely to hit an innocent person than are civilian shooters." Contrary to what most believe, most cops are not "gun people". Quite frankly, most cops (most, not all) are p**s poor gun handlers when it comes to safety, accuracy and maintaince. That scares me and should scare most anyone but facts are facts and we must learn to deal with them. Most cops have little or no training in firearms beyond what they will learn in the accademy. Oh, sure they go to the range once or twice a year but that is only to qualify and any trainer worth their salt will tell you that qualifying is nothing more that the ability to demonstrate the MINIMUM shooting requirements of the agency. In more departments than you would feel comfortable in knowing, as many as 60% of the officers take two or more attempts to qualify. That's 2 or more times to perform to the minimum standards. Sad but true and it hasn't changed much over the last 35 years that I've been working in the field. The real fact is that most HCP holders at least get more trigger time than most cops. Trigger time is not always good training however. We believe that we provide good training but there are a lot of other good trainers on this forum as well. No matter where you go to get it I would urge you to get it somewhere.

The fact is that the HCP holder involved in this incident quite literally dodged a bullet. Proper training would have most certainly reduced or eliminated the chances of being the subject of the newspaper article the OP of that thread referred to. No matter where you go to get further training, I would urge you to get it somewhere so if you must end up in the paper you do so on good terms and in an upright position.

Edited August 6, 2009 by Phantom6

[Warbird]

While I usually could come up with some difference in philosophy or opinion in a post that long, nothing comes to mind. Excellent post. Like you, I had criticisms on both sides and was disappointed the last thread was closed.

[frontier737]

Can we still read the closed post? If so where is it?

[Guest mikedwood]

Good Stuff Mr. Phantom. I thought that situation was a great one for learning something also. This being the internet the original thread did turn into quite a furball.

I hope this thread stays with your intent.