Posted on 12/05/2006 9:37:27 AM PST by SmithL
I've been shot. Three times, maybe four. It's hard to know for sure when your heart's thundering out of your chest, your hands are sweaty and your head is filled with all the rest of the blood in your body.
That first time, I thought I was paying attention -- attuned to details just as I'm trained to be. Focused, definitely focused. I noticed it was snowing, and that the house looked a little rickety. But when the old man came out of the door with a shotgun and raised it up, I froze.
What? This can't be real. It doesn't make sense. Is he aiming at me? Do I shoot him? This crazy, screaming, doddering guy in a checked shirt? It doesn't occur to me to take cover. I have a hand on my .40 caliber SIG-Sauer pistol, I'm pretty sure, but I never get my gun out of its holster. He fires and I slump, defeated, gone, most likely dead. The light disappears. All in a couple of seconds.
"Would you like to do that over?" I blink. I need a second to adjust. It's Sgt. Dennis Quinn, back behind his computer screen. "You're not allowed to die in here."
This isn't real, this shooting scene I just botched. It is part of the San Francisco Police Department's firearms training, video-projected scenarios -- borrowed from real life -- where officers have to decide what to do when they're faced with potential deadly force.
We're running a series in The Chronicle this week about SFPD shootings, policies and procedures and I'm here to get a taste of what officers face under these circumstances.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
I've done a bunch of those shoot / don't shoot scenarios... They can be pretty humbling.
I've done a bunch of those shoot / don't shoot scenarios... They can be pretty humbling.
I've done a bunch of those shoot / don't shoot scenarios... They can be pretty humbling.
This is why you play Quake other first person shooters - it helps desensitize you - you seen a unknown with a gun, he's a target, not a person.
Ack! 3 shot burst post button.
This is why you play Quake other first person shooters - it helps desensitize you - you seen a unknown with a gun, he's a target, not a person.
I went through that simulator once. The only way to beat it repeatedly is to simply keep the weapon already trained on the perp 100% of the time.
Multiple posts are humbling, too.
:^)
Do they have a scenario where a Komodo Dragon bites your foot? ;)
You can say that again...
You can say that again...
You can say that again...
Nice rapid fire O Miculek of the mouse. :)
That's why I'm not a cop.
Several times humbling I see.......
I have a parole officer friend who was shot a couple of years ago. He walked up the steps and knocked on the door and the guy fired a 12 gauge through the door and hit my friend dead center in his chest with a single slug. Luckily my friend was wearing his kevlar and ended up with a cracked sternum, and three broken ribs.
The convict ended up in a 6 hour standoff with police who finally negotiated him out. The guy was charged with attempted murder but convicted of aggravated assault with intent.
Good article. The police officers I know would appreciate the public getting a taste, even a simulated taste, of the sort of split-second, life-and-death decisions they have to make.
check yer selector switch...
No. But a møøse bit my sister once. Realli.
That guy's amazing. I don't think I could post eight times, reload, and post eight more times in three seconds. LOL...
She was carving her initials into the moose with the sharpened end of an intergalactic toothbrush...
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