Gun Powder in the Morning

To paraphrase a line from the movie Apocalypse Now- "I love the smell of gun powder in the morning!" Such was the case at the LakelandPD Training Center today as the department concluded the current round of semi-annual firearms qualifications.

LPD officers qualify with their assigned firearms twice a year - a daylight qualification in the spring and a low-light qualification later in the fall. CALEA accreditation standards only call for annual firearms testing, but we require a second qualification each year to meet our stringent standards of firearms proficiency. We also conduct several firearms training sessions throughout the year that are not considered to be qualification tests.

Why do we train so much with our firearms?

Years of experience tells us that officers will respond in a crisis situation exactly as they were trained - it should be an automatic reaction to a lethal threat. We are committed to provide the best training we can possibly afford to give our officers the tactical advantage in a life-threatening situation. There are no guarantees in our business, but we want to stack the survival odds in our favor.

After all, we want the good guys to come home to their families and loved ones at the end of every tour of duty.

- Asst Chief Bill LePere

Comments

[Asst Chief Bill LePere]

Good question John. Yes, all sworn members are required to qualify twice a year, and I look forward to the semi-annual qualifications as well as the other firearms training sessions. Additionally, all sworn members are required to attend specific training programs as mandated by the State of Florida Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission to keep our police officer certification updated and current. I believe our most recent mandated training was on child abuse investigations and elderly abuse training. We do provide other training sessions throughout the year that are not mandated for all personnel to attend, depending on the topic and one's duty assignment. Hope this helps.

[John Richmond]

D/C LePere, are you required to qualify twice a year? Some of us have heard that, even though you are a "sworn" member, policies have been changed so that certain sworn personnel are not required to participate in training that other sworn personnel would be required to.

[Lorrie Walker]

Great paraphrase! As a gun lover (cue the ZZ Top song now), I love target practice. I know I definitely feel more comfortable owning firearms when I actually shoot them occasionally and have the confidence that I know how to use them properly if, God forbid, I ever have to.