Mansfield University Home PageThe Annual Constable Firearms Training Course for 2008 will consist of 20 hours of instruction focused on improving basic marksmanship skills. The Advanced Constable Firearms Training Course will also be 20 hours, but was designed to provide more advanced training. It will take the place of the annual training, provided the constable demonstrated the required skill level the previous year. There will be two prerequisites for the 2008 Advanced 20-Hour Constable Firearms Training Course. The first will be the successful completion of the 2007 Annual Firearms Training Course with a score of at least 88% on the Qualification Course of Fire with the constable's primary duty weapon. The second will be the completion of all 12 Stage Assessments in the 2007 Annual Firearms Training Program without any significant deviations from established protocols.
Shooters will fire for qualification at the beginning of the course. If a constable fails to qualify in the Advanced Firearms course, he or she will be allowed to attend a standard Annual Firearms class that year at no cost or penalty.
Like the Annual Course, the Advanced 20-Hour Constable Firearm Training Program will consist of a series of assessments, laboratory, and practical exercises, in order to insure the constable meets or exceeds the PCCD's minimum firearms certification requirements. It will include reduced light and judgmental training, as well as the qualification course. For 2008, the 2007 course will be modified with the development of 25 interactive judgmental scenarios for the judgmental portion that utilize the "branching" capabilities of the Lasershot™ system.
Through lecture, class discussion, demonstrations, laboratory activities, and practical exercises, constables will improve their abilities to use their service handguns. They will shoot their weapons from a variety of distances and different positions, using both hands or each hand separately. During the Qualification Course of Fire, students must fire a score of at least 75% and demonstrate proficient and safe weapons handling skills through the successful completion of a series of stage assessments.
The qualification course will be divided into two stages. A shooter must qualify on each stage with at least a 75%. A shooter who fails to pass one of the stages will be permitted to repeat that stage. This will be the shooter's one remedial attempt to qualify. Shooters who fail again to reach the threshold of 75% on the remedial attempt will have to repeat the entire 20-hour block of instruction.
Any violation of safety rules while participating in the course will constitute an automatic disqualification. An instructor will evaluate students on the performance of their basic weapons skills. These evaluations will allow the instructor to provide feedback on what students have been doing well, where they need improvement, and what techniques need more practice.
Course Objectives
Advanced Firearms students must score 75% or better on all range and written exercises. They must also complete all 12 Stage Assessments with no major deviations from established protocols in order to continue attending the Advanced Course. Constables will still need to score 75% on each stage of the qualification course. If they score 75% or more, but less than 88%, they will still be able to continue the Advanced Firearms Course; however, they will not be able to take the Advanced Firearms Course the following year. Constables failing on the qualification course (less than 75%) will be immediately dropped from the course and will have to sign up for an Annual or Basic Firearms Course.
In addition to the course objectives described in the Annual Firearms Course, Advanced Firearms students will also demonstrate their mastery of the techniques presented in the Constable Survival Techniques module.
They include:
- Development of the survival mindset
- Threat Assessments
- Close contact shooting positions (3-5 Yards)
- Shooting with the normal shooting hand only
- Shooting using only the normal support hand
- One-Handed (shooting or support hand) loading and malfunction drills
- Use of cover/concealment to include kneeling and prone positions
- shooting at partially exposed targets (behind barricades, not hostage situations)