There are a number of issues I will address over time in regards to the handling of training weapons during training. In this post however, I will address the issue of the handling of weapons during training in weapon disarming and similar events.
- I have seen officers taught to state “For training purposes only.” while they are handing the weapon back to the ‘subject’.. If we are truly concerned that we will program the officer to immediately hand over the weapon on the street following a disarming then in this case we have trained the officer to not only hand the weapon back but say “For training purposes only” while they hand the subject back the weapon. This is less desirable.
- I have seen officers who have been trained to throw the weapon on the ground and have their partner pick it up as a way to avoid training them to hand the gun back. If we follow the logic behind this drill then the officers have just been trained to disarm a subject and throw the weapon on the ground at their feet rather than retain the weapon and eliminate the threat. This is less desirable.
In the early stages of the training where the officers are learning the components to the skill they will need to hand the gun or weapon to their partner at the end of a set number of repetitions. As law enforcement professionals they will have to handle firearms on a regular basis anyway so simply teach them how to hand a weapon to someone in a safe and professional manner.
Brian Willis