Re: Ideas for Patrol Rifle Training
There are several places to start, but the NRA LE training program is an okay place to start. Ideally, it'd be best to go get yourself and another officer certified as a patrol rifle instructor. You will learn what you need for lesson plans and basic drills.
The other option is to go attend a training course from a big name trainer/training group like EAG Tactical, Trident Concepts, Redback One, Kyle Defoor, Larry Vickers, Pat McNamara, etc. The stuff you will learn in their Level 1 courses will give you most of what you will need to develop your own teaching curriculum. Not only that, but they will teach you the RIGHT way to do things.
Basically, there are several areas where you need to establish TTPs, policy and SOP.
Rifles:
You have to determine what rifles will be used. Determine if the PD will provide the rifles, or if the officers can buy their own. If the PD buys them, make sure the PD is coughing up for quality rifles like BCM, Colt, Daniel Defense, LMT, etc. If the officers provide their own, you need to make a list of criteria for what kind of rifles they can use, or what components and accessories they can have. Make sure that all rifles are quality and reliable. You should establish a reliability testing requirement with officer-owned rifles.
Either way, you need an officer at your agency who is a certified AR armorer to inspect and maintain all agency rifles, and to inspect and evaluate officer-owned rifles.
Also, establish a mandatory zero range for your rounds. You should zero at 50yds or 100yds only.
Ammunition:
Consider what ammo you want to use, and if the PD or the officer will be responsible. Either way, you need to designate a specific load authorized for duty, or a list of authorized loads. Some states have state contracts with ammo manufacturers, so check into that as well.
Regardless of what you decide, you should be using a barrier-blind ammunition loading, which is best done in form of a bonded JSP or a Barnes TSX. Anything different is going to be problematic and dangerous or wrong.
Training facilities:
It's best if you have access to a 100yd or longer open range, so you can teach officers both CQB and long range shooting concepts.
Policy:
You need an agency policy regarding your rifle program. Looking at those from other agencies will give you a good idea where to go, but I would recommend that you contact the NTOA for their policy suggestions for rifles. Also, Lexipol is a great asset. Make sure that the policy is not overly restrictive or unreasonable, as that can produce added liability.
There are policies out there at some agencies that require officers to request permission over the radio to use their rifles, and they are only allowed to use them in certain circumstances. That's how you do it WRONG.
For training, it's best to cover the basics first. Primary is weapon operation and safety. Teach them the basics of inspecting the rifle for loaded/unloaded and to check for basic function. Then teach loading and unloading. Teach how to use the sights or optic. From there, move to shooting stance and grip, positions, sling use, light use and running the trigger and safety. Make sure they're aware of what the round can do, and the range of it.
Then, you can go into more specific areas of training. Such as-
Transitions to sidearm if rifle goes down under 25yds
Immediate Action
Remedial Action
Sight offset under 25yds
360 Scans
Controlled Pairs
Hammer Pairs
Failure Drills
Multiple target (double hammer vs Roadhouse Rules)
Box Drill
NSR (Non-Standard Response)
Movement with a rifle
Shooting while moving
Use of barricades and cover
-etc...the list goes on-
One thing I will say is this- start with the basics and fundamentals. My agency came to me and asked for some fun drills to do during training. I showed them some Viking Tactics drills on YouTube, though I knew that nobody outside of the SWAT guys were proficient enough to do the drills competently. I was right. Fundamentals are key, and if your officers lack them, they will fail in all other aspects.
