DHS gets new practice targets

[flipwils11]

Disgusting....

http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/high-tide-and-turn/2013/feb/28/dhs-training-practice-targets-featuring-children-p/

[Seabass]

I am not trying to start an argument in saying this is ok, but I do understand what the company was trying to acheive.

Many LE organizations train consistently with firearms and typically shoot at basic targets that are in the shape of a full size adult, including the military. Most training situations are designed to help the individual overcome certain obstalces, ie. shooting after increasing the heart rate, creating a large amount of stress while making the individual perform certain tasks, etc. There are hundreds of different scenarios that can be used to acheive this training.

I see the article mentions the targets where requested by some LE departments. I personally have fired at targets which had innocent bystanders relatively close to the offenders, or even had normally innocent people holding dangerous devices. What you also need to know is these targets have multile layers as well. The way this works, is the target is photographed without holding anything, just the hand in a certain position. The training manager will decide what item to place in the hand of the target. For example, instead of the gun, the pregnant lady could be holding a bottle, or the kid could be holding a candy bar. There are tons of different layers that can be added to change the scenario. Why do they do this you ask? If you send you trainee through the training, they get used to seeing the same bad guys over and over. By changing the item in the hand, the trainee has to be able to assess the situation in a split second before taking any action. This is actually pretty tough to do, trust me. If you have ever been through training like this and you shot an innocent, it is not taken lightly and it is no laughing matter. DHS has the most advanced firing ranges in the world, I have been to them. They have the ability to place multiple targets and create an environment that makes the trainee use his/her head in the shortest amount of time possible.

This is just a perspective the article fails to point out.