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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsA Lesson from Boston: Police need training in night shooting
200 rounds fired and they don't put down two assailants during the gunfight in Watertown. Some police run out of ammunition before it is over.
It is obvious that police are not equipped or trained for shooting in low light where they can't get a sight picture using iron sights. It is possible to shoot a pistol accurately without using the sights, but that is an advanced skill that most patrol officers would not have.
Police need to be equipped with laser sights or other illuminated sights for shooting in low light or darkness. This is especially true for the rifles or shotguns carried in patrol cars. Patrol officers also need to qualify on a darkened range.
This would improve public safety by reducing the number of rounds that miss their target and go into the neighborhood.
ProgressiveProfessor
(22,144 posts)There are exceptions, but the training they get is pretty basic. Most sport shooters practice more often than many LEOs.
C_U_L8R
(44,891 posts)but I gotta says it was a bit of a Blues Brothers ending here.
justhanginon
(3,287 posts)200 shots fired. Where did all the bullets that missed or went through the target go? That is some scary s..t when dealing with rapid fire weapons, especially in an urban environment!
FarCenter
(19,429 posts)http://www.startribune.com/printarticle/?id=203766011
See photo with story.
I'd assume into parked vehicles, storefronts, tree trunks, and houses and apartments.
That's why it is important that police be equipped and trained to deliver aimed fire at night. Fewer of their rounds will go astray and the perp will be put down sooner.
avaistheone1
(14,626 posts)like police not removing trash containers and mail boxes from the streets, and not having a presence of bomb-sniffing dogs. I think this is a failure at the higher levels and not from the rank and file police officers who I think did a great job.
FarCenter
(19,429 posts)The bombers had the bombs in backpacks, which the put down on the sidewalk and walked away from. They did not put them in trash containers or mail boxes.
The bomb-sniffing dogs went through the area early in the morning and again about an hour before the first finishers crossed the line. The bombers entered the area, deposited the backpacks, and triggered the bombs within a short time -- probably about a half hour. So unless you have very frequent sweeps they would not have detected the bombs. These were gunpowder bombs in pressure cookers. Pressure cookers have seals and if they are carefully washed there would not be external residue detectable by dogs.