24 Oct 00

Training "accident." This is from the 21 Oct 00 issue of the LA Times:

"A police officer in suburban Oceanside accidentally shot another officer on Friday during an informal training session. Two training officers were providing instruction to a rookie in a deserted parking lot. The officer whose shot caused the injury said he believed his sidearm was unloaded.

The wounded officer was playing the part of an enraged motorist and was running toward the rookie officer. He was shot just above the right knee and is listed in fair condition.

In 1993 an Orange County Sheriff's Deputy shot another during a similar, ‘informal' training session. That wound proved fatal, and the Orange County Board subsequently settled out of court with the officer's widow for five million dollars."

Lessons:

>Training sessions with functional weapons involving inexperienced people carry with them significant risk of accidental shooting incidents like the one described above. Plastic, "drone" placebos are commonly available and should be used instead of functional weapons if possible.

>The officer who did the shooting jerked his trigger, and his shot subsequently impacted low and left. This is typical performance for trigger jerkers. NYPD's SOP9 study shows many, similar shootings where the person shot was hit low and right in the abdomen or in the right leg. Thus, trigger jerkers normally produce nonfatal wounds.

/John

24 Oct 00

>From a friend with the Capetown Traffic Police:

"The CZ is our staple diet around here. We have found on the new model CZs that the trigger pin is sometimes not flared properly and will pop out under heavy use, usually at a bad time! My police-issue CZ is now pushing 100,000 rounds and is showing some signs of wear on the right side of the slide rail. It is now also starting to rattle ever so slightly, but it is still perfectly serviceable. Of course, we shoot wimpy hardball exclusively (not by choice!)

We have had a couple of Tanfogs blowing barrels under heavy use. I think the Tanfog has lost something in the copying process."

/John