[Jeff22]

Some states have a specified qualification course that all the cops are required to shoot once a year for score. Some states don't.

Most agencies have a standard qualification course that they use to evaluate basic skills. Some do not, feeling that keeping scores creates a liability issue if a cop who can't shoot gets involved in a bad/unjustified shooting, or in a circumstance where they miss and hit a bystander by mistake.

Let me let you in on a little secret -- if you shoot somebody that didn't need to be shot, or if you miss and hit a bystander, you have plenty of problems regardless. It doesn't matter if your agency keeps a numerical score of your performance on the QC or not . . .

Targets used and time limits and scoring systems vary greatly.

I began my career as a Law Enforcement Specialist in the Security Police in the Air Force. Using a S&W 15 .38 revolver. The Air Force Qualification Course in those days (1980) was fired on the International Center Fire Target (The NRA B-18 target) at 25 yards and I think all of it was fired single action. The Security Police Handgun Course was at closer distance (15 yards) and (I think) had some double action shooting in it. I still have copies of all of those courses of fire but I can't remember them right now.

When I went to the Police Academy back home we shot a modified PPC course at 7, 15, and 25 yards. We shot at 50 yards but it wasn't required for the qualification. We shot on the NRA B-27 and B-21 target.

The first two firearms instructor classes I went to were run by the NRA and the FBI. In both of them we shot PPC courses on the NRA B-27 target out to 50 yards.

Since that time, in police training around here at least, the targets have become more realistic in the size of the scoring zone (much smaller), more realistic in the time limits involved (much shorter) and we do almost all of our training from 3 to 15 yards. Given limited training time and ammunition, it's probably best to train to deal with with the most likely dynamics of confrontation, which probably involves engaging multiple targets close, dark, and fast.

But I think it's a mistake to eliminate shooting at 25 and 50 yards. You never know what the circumstances of your gunfight might be, so you need to be prepared to deal with a multitude of threats. One of those threats might well be an active shooter down a long hallway in a school or a shopping mall. You can't always presume that you will know what kind of situation you're walking into, or that you'll always have your patrol rifle with you.

Several years ago I took a handgun/carbine class with Pat McNamara. He greatly focuses on accuracy in his training, and we did lots of shooting at distance. Several of the guys in the class (the class was all LEOs) really struggled because all of their department training and their personal practice had involved shooting lots of rounds fast up close. They couldn't slow down and hit at distance and really struggled and became frustrated.

An 8 x 12 sheet of paper actually works pretty well as a primary scoring zone for practice. An 8 x 12 rectangle is about the same size as the upper hydraulics on an adult male, and that's what you're aiming for if you shoot to incapacitate. I've been to a couple of classes where we did lots of shooting on 8 x 12 sheets of paper in the chest and 3 x 5 cards in the head for primary scoring zones. Or paper plates of different sizes. Those work too.