Albuquerque, NM –-(Ammoland.com)- Today I ran across a great video if police in Sweet Home, Oregon training to respond to immediate threats in high risk situations.
The range they are shooting at depicts the lush, beautiful woodlands for which Oregon is known.
It has been five years since I’ve lived and trained in Oregon, and it’s wonderful to see the beautiful landscape and nice private range these officers train on.
This video highlights several skills officers need to develop.
First, officers arrive on the scene of a violent crime in commission, and act decisively to stop the threat and control the scene. Note the way they execute magazine changes. Rather than dropping the magazine while retrieving a second mag, officers retrieve the second magazine, then perform a tactical reload, maintaining control of the magazine in order to maintain control of their equipment. Of course, if the threat is intensifying they would want to drop the mag and reload as quickly as possible, but practicing as demonstrated allows them to maintain control of their equipment whenever possible.
Another drill in the video demonstrate officers moving in with rifles to secure a channel to evacuate a wounded officer and team movements. The only thing missing from this drill are the verbal or visual cues the shooting officer can give to the moving officer to indicate he or she is in position to provide covering fire. Often the officer ready to move can call “moving,” and when the supporting officer is topped off or otherwise ready to cover he can call “move.”
This is a great video and it is rare to see such high quality media demonstrating the training techniques officers use to prepare for the most dangerous scenarios. I hope to see more of this type of production in the future.
About:
Alan Murdock is a lifelong shooting enthusiast. From youth he has shot firearms and archery. Today he is a certified NRA basic pistol instructor and Utah Concealed Firearms instructor. His blog on shooting and personal defense can be found at www.alanmurdock.wordpress.com