There have been arguments over the years that the best way to improve officer performance in a shooting is to increase force-on-force (FoF) training because "square range" training is not adequate enough. Well, that depends...

First let's define officer or shooter "performance". Performance can be broken down into four categories...and ironically they match the OODA loop...observe, orient, decide, and act.

Observation - can be trained equally in range training and FoF training

Orientation - the hardest and arguably the most important step of the loop to teach. It can be done in both range training and FoF training, however FoF training is typically better

Decision - can be trained equally in range training and FoF training

Action - If we're talking about the act or skill of shooting, that is best done on the range. FoF projectiles do not replicate the same level of accuracy as bullets.

So, when we talk about officer "performance" if we're talking about the ability to recognize threat indicators and react appropriately, then FoF training is better suited for that. However, if we're talking about improving marksmanship and hit ratio, then range training is better suited for that.

As firearms instructors, we need to make sure we're using the right training methodology to address officer performance. FoF training is not the answer for all problems.

I recently wrote an article about this issue. It was posted on PoliceOne.com. Click on either link to read the article...

PoliceOne.com Article  |  PDF copy

Train hard & stay safe!