This morning, I read Paul Markel’s column for officer.com: Firearms Training Sanity Check; Why do we train the way we do? The answer: “Rather than examine or address any deficiencies in the curriculum or training program, it’s much easier to simply state, that’s we way we’ve always done it. Well that’s great. We used to bore holes in people’s head to let the demons out. I’m sorry folks but we’ve always done it like that is a crutch. It’s an easy way out that requires no thought or effort.” Yes, well, what’s wrong with “it”? How should police be training? Markel’s article pulled more punches than a paid-off prizefighter. So I rang him up, expecting some carefully couched criticism. Nope. He let police firearms training standards have it, both barrels . . .
“The vast majority of cops don’t have a warrior mentality,” the formerly active Marine and ex-cop told TTAG. “Cops win gunfights because they show up with a lot of cops. Whenever they run into serious, motivated and trained bad guys, they get their asses handed to them.”
And yet most of them have no desire to train hard . . .
“It’s all about their ego. They like to practice what they’re good at: standing still and slowly firing at a target that’s five to ten yards away. That way they make lots of nice pretty groups and they can keep thinking that they know how to use a gun . . .
“I tell them to start a string lying on their back. The groups don’t look so nice but they know how to draw and shoot after someone’s knocked them on the ground, before the bad guy comes at them with a knife and starts using them for a pin cushion.”
Markel’s been angry at the state of the average American police force’s combat preparedness for quite some time. When he left the Gulf War for home, Markel graduated at the top of his police academy class. And yet work was hard to come by.
“I was too caucasian and too male for the job,” he states. “When you are more interested in filling quotas than hiring warriors you end up with government workers . . .
“I’d say around one to two percent of police are ‘gun guys’. They’ll spend their own money on ammo and train hard. The rest couldn’t care less. They just want a government job.”
Gun guys. Two little words capable of trigger a major rant.
“Lots of cops say it to me like they’re proud of it. ‘I’m not a gun guy.’ They get all lofty about it. Like if you’re a gun guy you’re some kind of barbarian or Rambo.
“Imagine a plumber who says ‘I’m not a pipe and wrench guy.’ It’s ridiculous. If you’re a cop, you ARE a gun guy. You have to do it. It’s part of your job. ’I'm not a gun guy.’ Try explaining that to a bad guy when you’re lying in a ditch and he’s about to blow your head off . . .
“Cops aren’t social workers. Some people in America want them to be social workers. They think combat is too nasty and horrible. But they’re supposed to be gunfighters. They need to be gunfighters.”
In the current era of fiscal austerity, firearms training is particularly vulnerable to cut-backs. Markel is not having an easy time of it. But he’s optimistic that a sea change is on the horizon.
“A lot of the new police recruits are kids coming back from Afghanistan. They’ve been there. They know what’s real. They’ve got the warrior spirit. As they work their way up the ranks, they’ll start to lobby for serious training and the budgets to pay for them.”
The change of attitude and increase in real world gunfighting skills can’t happen soon enough for the Mississippi-based trainer. Or for us, the citizens the cops are supposed to protect and serve.
[Please support Mr. Markel's decision to write for TTAG by clicking here to visit his website or here to check out his Cafe Press gob shop.]
Eric S:
In 1978, while on leave from the Air Force, I applied for, and was accepted to, the Ohio State Patrol academy. After consideration, I elected to remain on active duty.
After retirement at the ripe old age of 37, in excellent physical condition (5′ 10″, 185 lbs, bench twice my own weight, approximately 12.0 seconds/100 yards) with 12 1/2 years of military police and civilian LEO experience (reserve deputy sheriff and reserve municipal police officer, highly trained and capable expert marksman with every weapon I ever picked up, i.e. 10 shots, 6″ @ 600 meters, M24 7.62 x 51), I again attempted to apply for the OSP. They wouldn’t even give me an application, let alone fill one out and submit it. According to the OSP Post Commander, “we’re only hiring women and minorities at this time”. Too white, too male. Politically correct bullshit, for sure and certain.
In too many communities, the police no longer act like peace officers and instead act like a military occupation force. Attitudes and comments like those of Mr. Markel only serve to exacerbate that problem by trying to instill an attitude among officers that is not compatible with civilian law enforcement. Police officers must be able to effectively defend themselves and should train to gain those skills. We all should. But moving about their respective communities seeing themselves as warriors or gunfighters leads to a marked superiority complex among officers and will further widen the “us vs. them” attitude that is already a big problem. The horrible, thuggish behavior that infests an ever growing number of our local police departments will only continue to grow worse if not addressed. Every police officer needs to remember that they also have to live and interact in the communities they serve. Hmm…that word, “serve”. A concept that too many law enforcement agencies have forgotten. Some friends of mine who have been police officers for many years are disturbed by the new trends in their profession but feel powerless to do anything about it. I usually just smile and tell them to encourage their fellow officers to behave themselves because they are badly outnumbered, outgunned, and in many cases, badly outtrained.