Police Participation in Firearms Training

The Survey and Purpose

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I recently put out a survey to any and all law enforcement officers about firearms training. The questions on the survey were as follows:

1. How many dry fire sessions do you complete each week?

2. How long are your dry fire sessions on average?

3. How much do you spend on ammunition each month?

4. How many live fire sessions do you perform each month?

5. How many performance shooting or tactics related training classes outside of what is provided by your department have you taken?

6. How many firearms instructors have you done 1-on-1 training with?

7. How many books on firearms training methodology have you purchased and read and firearms training library subscriptions have you subscribed to?

8. If asked at this very moment, would you be able to provide verifiable evidence that your skill with a firearm has measurably increased and is still increasing?

9. What do you personally feel motivates / would motivate you to commit and invest more time and energy towards firearms training?

This survey would provide me with information that could prove useful in answering two big questions:

1. How much are officers investing into their own personal skill development with their firearms? What is influencing how much they are investing in their skill development?

2. What are the major motivating factors for officers that get them to invest more time/energy/effort towards training?

Let’s dive into each of those individually, starting with number 2:

What are the major motivating factors for officers that get them to train?

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This question was answered by Question 9: What do you personally feel motivates / would motivate you to commit and invest more time and energy towards firearms training?

Unlike all the other questions where you selected a simple number or yes/no, this question was an open answer box so respondents could type anything they wanted. The length of answers ranged from a single word to an entire paragraph or two.

Reading over all the responses, the overall sentiment garnered as a whole was that there is a general desire present in law enforcement to train and develop skill with a firearm. There were very few replies that were left blank or voiced an overt disinterest (which checks out, people who aren’t interested in or have opinions on firearms training would likely not take the time or bother answering the survey).

I was able to identify common themes and sentiments within the responses and categorize what motivates officers to train into 4 motifs: professional responsibility, increased access to training resources, accountability, and competitions.

I will expand on each of those motifs individually and what falls within that category of response in order of most frequently mentioned to least frequently mentioned. As you read through them, recognize that a number of the longer answers included statements that fell under more than one category, hence why the percentages add up to more than 100%.

1. Professional Responsibility

   - 61% of responses included statements that would fall under this category.

   - This category of response included answers that stated motivation came from feeling an ethical and moral obligation to be as capable as possible in the event they needed to use their gun in the line of duty. These answers often also stated more than just a general preparedness but a desire to be capable of protecting fellow officers, the public, their families, etc. in the event they had to use their firearm for a lethal encounter.

2. Increased Access to Training Resources

   - 57% of responses included statements that would fall under this category.

   - This category of response included answers that stated motivation came from A) department provided, on-the-clock training, B) department provided, free ammunition, and C) department provided, on-the-clock range access. These answers didn’t actually really discuss motivation so much as just state they would train more if the department provided the means to train (on-the-clock) or paid for them to attend classes (on-the-clock).

3. Competition and Personal Goals

   - 24% of responses included statements that would fall under this category.

   - This category of response included answers that leaned on competition amongst peers and participation in organized shooting sports as a means to derive motivation. Examples of these statements included: competitions amongst departments, competitions between individual units within a department, USPSA, IPSC, and PCSL. Another large portion also brought up that routine, structured performance evaluations and benchmarks were useful with some replies even voicing very specific, personal goals such as achieving a certain score on a particular course of fire or reaching a certain classification within the USPSA.

4. Accountability and Department Standards (seemingly through the department)

   - 18% of responses included statements that would fall under this category.

   - This category of response included answers that stated motivation comes simply from being held to a standard at their department through means of random performance evaluations, yearly qualifications, team evaluations, supervisors, or socially by training partners. These responses seemed to be folks who were not particularly interested in firearms training and therefore were not intrinsically motivated yet did recognize the importance of being proficient for the job and were honest enough to admit they just need external assistance and some work enforced standards making them commit to training.

How much are officers investing in their personal skill development with their firearms?

What influences how much they are investing in their skill development?

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By associating each individual survey response with the four primary motivation themes based on how they answered Question 9, I was then able to compare how Questions 1 through 8 were answered and develop associations and trends about the effectiveness of each primary motivation theme in terms of how much officers were investing in themselves.I will dive into the specifics of each individual question at the end but the general synopsis is that competitive shooting seemed to be overwhelmingly the most effective and sustainable means of motivating individuals to commit to a lifestyle of training and personal development. I say that because one of the most interesting findings is that the difference did not appear to be simply motivation—the responses appeared to reflect a difference in training philosophy as a whole. This wasn’t observed by simply how much the respondents trained… it was also how they talked about training.

Respondents who answered they are motivated by professional responsibility to be prepared or by department standards most commonly described firearms training as nothing more than a necessary means to survive a critical incident. Their emphasis was on being "good enough" to protect themselves, fellow officers, and the public. Their responses were very frequently paired with a heavy focus on / mentioning of barriers to improvement. Common examples of recurring sentiments found within these responses included:

• Not enough ammunition is provided by the department

• Not enough time to train while on shift

• Not enough range access while on shift

• Not enough availability to work with an instructor while on shift

• Not enough leadership prioritizing firearms training by approving funding and assistance

The respondents who reported answers indicating they are motivated by professional responsibility to be prepared or by external standards most commonly exhibit and overall mindset of:

"I would train, but the department needs to make it happen.”

Respondents motivated by competition, however, tend to view firearms proficiency as more than just a task to do at work or related to work, but a skill that can be continuously measured and improved upon as there is no “finish line” or “good enough”. Their responses were much more proactive and spoken from a positive frame of mind. Specific examples illustrating this included:

• "Competition has helped keep me motivated since you can see the increase in skill and pinpoint deficiencies. I also, like many others I believe, enjoy smoking the shit out of my friends on the range."

• “I started investing more time in training after shooting my first USPSA match. The match was fun and resulted in me wanting to perform better at matches. The result was I learned how to train, actual fundamentals of firearms, and the importance of shooting fast and accurate.”

• “Mostly enjoyment, competing, and less so the fact that my incompetence could get someone killed. Those sounds backwards but frankly the enjoyment and competing against people drives me much more than the responsibility of carrying a gun most days.”

• "What motivates me most is the pursuit of mastery and preparedness. USPSA competition gives me objective feedback on my shooting performance and exposes weaknesses that I can improve.”

Even when the responses that claimed competitive shooting to be the motivating factor also mentioned departmental limitations, those responses effectively also went on to describe or indicate that they still find ways to train anyways. The overall mindset was:

"I am responsible for my own performance and continued development."

That mindset is reflected in their behavior compared with the preparedness-only group as they reported measurably higher levels of investment in all eight other questions.

• More frequent dry fire training.

• More frequent live fire practice.

• Greater participation in outside classes.

• More investment in educational resources.

• A higher reported confidence of being able to demonstrate measurable improvement.

This is a meaningful finding because it suggests that competitive shooting is associated with a fundamentally different approach to skill development, not just more frequent practice. Officers who cite competition as a motivator appear more likely to adopt a continuous-improvement mindset and invest in their own development regardless of external constraints. Conversely, officers whose responses focus primarily on departmental support generally report lower levels of personal investment across the training-related questions.

In a world such as law enforcement where high levels of skill are of incredible usefulness, adopting a more effective means of motivating yourself to commit to skill development and creating a more effective framework of how to view the training process where you find gratification in and therefore it is sustainable for a career is a win win for law enforcement and the public.

Below are the questions individually with each motivational themes associated responses:

Question 1 - How many dry fire sessions do you complete each week?

Motivated by Competition	Motivated by Professional Responsibility	Motivated by Accountability & Standards at Work
Most commonly 5 sessions per week, a large number reporting even more	Most commonly 4 per week, with a large number reporting 0–1 sessions	Usually are not dry firing every week

Question 2 - How long are your dry fire sessions on average?

Motivated by Competition	Motivated by Professional Responsibility	Motivated by Accountability & Standards at Work
Usually 15 to 20 minutes	Usually 5 to 10 minutes	Most commonly reported 0 minutes

Question 3 - How much do you spend on ammunition each month?

Motivated by Competition	Motivated by Professional Responsibility	Motivated by Accountability & Standards at Work
Average roughly $150 per month	Average roughly $50 per month	Most commonly reported $0

Question 4 - How many live fire sessions do you perform each month?

Motivated by Competition	Motivated by Professional Responsibility	Motivated by Accountability & Standards at Work
Most commonly 4 sessions per month, many reporting ~2 though	Most commonly 1 session per month	Most commonly reported 0

Question 5 - How many performance shooting or tactics related training class outside of what is provided by your department have you taken?

Motivated by Competition	Motivated by Professional Responsibility	Motivated by Accountability & Standards at Work
A large amount reported >10	Most commonly reported 3 or less	Most commonly reported 0

Question 6 - How many firearms instructors have you done 1-on-1 training with?

Motivated by Competition	Motivated by Professional Responsibility	Motivated by Accountability & Standards at Work
Average reported 1 to 2	Most commonly reported 0	Most commonly reported 0

Question 7 - How many books on firearms training methodology have you purchased and read and firearms training library subscriptions have you subscribed to?

Motivated by Competition	Motivated by Professional Responsibility	Motivated by Accountability & Standards at Work
Most commonly answered 1	Most commonly answered 0	Most commonly answered 0

Question 8 - If asked at this very moment, would you be able to provide verifiable evidence that your skill with a firearm has measurably increased and is still increasing?

Motivated by Competition	Motivated by Professional Responsibility	Motivated by Accountability & Standards at Work
93% answered yes	79% answered yes	63% answered yes

Now, could you make the argument:

“Of course the people who are into competitive shooting are training more, but it isn’t because of the competitions, it’s just because they are people who like this stuff.”

Absolutely you could make that argument. And are there people who that absolutely applies to? Totally.

But here would be my two prong rebuttal:

First, there were answers that indicated the respondent was someone who A) does not intrinsically train and only trained for the job and professional obligation, B) by whatever means started competing, and C) once competing they recognized the benefit as they found themselves more motivated to train and develop their skills. Here are some flawless examples of this phenomenon:

• ”A clear path with measurable increase in performance was what pushed me from 'tactical shooting' to performance shooting and USPSA. But it was a hard sell until the results became undeniable.”

• “I have recently started competing in USPSA which has dramatically increased my interest in firearm specific skill training versus more ‘tactical’ style firearms training.”

Second, even if that were true, it is still undeniable that whatever the current means of motivation and accountability that are in place at police departments is… it is overwhelmingly ineffective at getting officers to commit to a concerted effort to improve.  Whatever the reason may be, the results from the individuals that report their only motivation is to be “good enough” to pass quals and survive just aren’t actually committing to training in a volume, frequency, or deliberate nature that will result in a likelihood of success.

Something has to change.

“The way it’s always been done” isn’t working.

I could be wrong, I’m not infallible, but it can’t hurt for police departments and individuals within law enforcement to give competitive shooting a shot (pun intended) and attempt to foster a culture more supportive and demanding of individual responsibility for growth.

Sample Size and Distribution Considerations

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Sample Size: I received just shy of 1,000 completions of the survey so the sample size we are working with, while only modest, is still relatively decent to derive some averages and information from.

Sample Distribution: It is important to recognize that the method of distributing the survey could have resulted in some degree of selection bias / volunteer response bias.

The survey was distributed through three avenues:

1. Posting the survey link on my Instagram,

2. Getting friends to share the survey link on their Instagrams, and

3. Simply mass texting everyone I personally know who is a cop and I have a phone number for.

This is important to note for a couple reasons:

1. My Instagram audience primarily consists of people interested in firearms training and competitive shooting and the other accounts who shared the link also have audiences primarily consisting of people interested in firearms training and competitive shooting.

2. A large population of the cops I have personal cell phone numbers for are individuals who I’ve either worked with or networked with due to firearms training. So, on average, the population reached via text are also more interested in firearms training than the average cop.

Consequently, it can be reasonably assumed that because respondents were recruited primarily through social media accounts focused on firearms training and mass texting a population who is comprised largely of individuals already interested in firearms training that the sample is not completely accurate to the total law enforcement population as a whole and likely significantly over represents officers with above-average interest and participation in firearms training.

Therefore, we can reasonably also assume that the results over represent officers who train regularly, spend money on training, invest in learning materials, compete, and generally value firearms proficiency and prioritize participating in it. And conversely, it likely under represents officers who never train off duty, only qualify annually, and have little interest in firearms training or proficiency.