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FI RE ARMS TACTICS BY LINDSEY BERTOMEN Tips for shooting past your buddy I t is the goal for law enforcement firearm trainers to make training as realistic as possible. The challenge is to maintain the balance between safety and realism. Even when we train to move and shoot, many of us don't practice live fire moving and shooting with others downrange. We practice contact/cover for routine encounters. The cover officer provides overwatch, precludes outside interference and is responsible for the safety of the contact officer. The contact officer's responsibility is to interact with the suspect(s). Statistically, by the way, more than half of all assaults on officers are in the presence of other officers. When does the cover officer engage? When the tactical situation dictates. This means if we train for this con- tingency, we have to be able to shoot around the good guys without shooting the good guys. When it comes to this kind of training, there are a few simple rules: ■ Crawl, Walk, Run ■ Gun out, Gun down, Finger off ■ It's supposed to be stressful ■ Safety, Safety, Safety The need for contact/cover firearms training Dan Gray of Trident Firearms Academy told me that agencies do not do enough two-officer drills. These two-person tactics are really necessary for two officers who respond to a "domestic violence call gone bad." For example, two officers have worked their way into the residence and now need to fight their way out. www.officer.com How do officer teams fight their way out? By aggressing the aggressor, slicing the pie and moving to cover, sometimes alternating from contact to cover. Training for this type of contingency, at the very least, will improve communication among officers. Every law enforcement multi-officer response can reinforce contact/cover. Gray illustrates the need for small unit shooting training by citing a common patrol scenario: "Imagine the routine alarm call where the patrol officer finds a pharmacy door kicked in. Do you call in SWAT? No. The squad sets up a perimeter and you go in." Currently, Trident Firearms Academy is working on a complete training seminar for just these types of calls. Small unit tactics are essential for the patrol level. July 2013 Law Enforcement Technology 37