FBI focuses firearms training on close-quarters combat

[imschur]

QUANTICO, Va. — The FBI has quietly broken with its long-standing firearms training regimen, putting a new emphasis on close-quarters combat to reflect the overwhelming number of incidents in which suspects are confronting their targets at point-blank range.

The new training protocols were formally implemented last January after a review of nearly 200 shootings involving FBI agents during a 17-year period. The analysis found that 75% of the incidents involved suspects who were within 3 yards — in most cases less than 9 feet — of agents when shots were exchanged.

The move represents a dramatic shift for the agency, which for more than three decades has relied on long-range marksmanship training.  Apart from the new shooting regimen, agents also are being exposed to technology borrowed from Hollywood in which they can apply skills acquired on the shooting range to virtual scenarios involving the pursuit of armed suspects in schools, office buildings, apartment complexes and other potential targets.

The virtual simulation technology, developed by Georgia-based Motion Reality, won a 2005 Academy Award for technical achievement in character animation. The motion-capture technology was used in The Polar Express and The Lord of the Rings.

In its law enforcement adaptation, virtual scenarios are fed from computers  in agents' backpacks to viewfinders that transform an empty room into  virtual worlds where agents are pitted against animated armed suspects  — many of them in close-range encounters.

John Wilson, chief of the FBI's virtual simulation program, says the system also is capable of "negatively rewarding" trainees' bad decisions by transmitting jolts to their bodies that simulate gunshots.

"The thing that jumps out at you from the (shooting incident) research is that if we're not preparing agents to get off three to four rounds at a target between 0 and 3 yards, then we're not preparing them for what is likely to happen in the real world," says FBI training instructor Larry "Pogo" Akin, who helps supervise trainees on the live shooting range.

The FBI's research predates more recent fatal shootings of local law enforcement officers, many of whom were victims of close-range ambush attacks while answering calls for service or serving warrants.

A Justice Department analysis of 63 killings of local police in 2011 found that 73% were ambush or execution-style assaults.

Bud Colonna, chief of the FBI's Firearms Training Unit, says the circumstances involving the local law enforcement fatalities added "a lot of weight" to the changes ultimately implemented by the FBI.

Colonna said FBI Director Robert Mueller personally oversaw the live firearm training changes, meeting with instructors at the bureau's sprawling training facility here and taking part in the actual shooting drills.

Until last January, the pistol-qualification course required agents to participate in quarterly exercises in which they fired 50 rounds, more than half of them from between 15 and 25 yards. The new course involves 60 rounds, with 40 of those fired from  between 3 and 7 yards.

The new exercise also requires that agents draw their weapons from concealed positions, usually from holsters shielded by jackets or blazers, to mimic their traditional plainclothes dress in the field.

Training analysts say the FBI's new emphasis reflects a growing movement by law enforcement agencies across the country to prepare for encounters with armed suspects in schools, office buildings and other locations where officers are now being trained to pursue shooters — often in close quarters — in an attempt to limit potential casualties.

"After Columbine, it became very common for law enforcement agencies to speak about the need for active shooter training," says Scott Knight, former chairman of the International Association of Chiefs of Police's Firearms Committee. Knight, also police chief in Chaska, Minn., referred to the 1999 Columbine High School shooting in Colorado that left 12 students, one teacher and the two gunmen dead.

"With their findings, the FBI has determined that they are confronting these (close-range encounters) and need to be prepared for them," Knight said.

The new live-fire training is  separate from the virtual simulation unit, housed in a converted storage room in Quantico since its launch in February. But the missions of both training units underscore the new emphasis on armed confrontations in close quarters.

The simulator can host up to six agents at a time, each fully "immersed" in scenarios in which agents' movements are captured by a network of ceiling cameras. Immediately after the exercises, video is displayed on large screens in an adjoining classroom where agents' performances are subject to detailed critiques by instructors.

The lessons are crucial.

For now, the system serves to teach  agents  the proper way to enter and clear rooms in search of potential suspects, confront armed assailants and determine when deadly force is appropriate.

"When you are in these exercises, people forget that these are virtual scenarios," says Tom McLaughlin, Motion Reality's chief executive. "The brain believes this is real. We make these to be as close as you would find in the real world."

In the screening room, there is no hiding from poor decision-making and improper technique, because almost every angle of each exercise scenario can be analyzed.

Wilson says the simulation has been  invaluable. But he is just as excited about the technology's untapped potential.

The system can build in blueprints and schematics of any known suspect hideout or hostage location.

Once built, the system would allow agents to train before launching operations against suspected targets. Until now, rehearsals for some major operations required the full or partial physical construction of target locations.

Last month, Wilson says, the FBI's elite Hostage Rescue Team, whose members have been deployed throughout the world, began using the simulator.

"The possibilities are endless," Wilson says. About the Author [img alt=Kevin Johnson height=140 width=140]http://www.gannett-cdn.com/media/USATODAY/staff/images/v2/Johnson_Kevin_rx140_c140x140.png?ee9acdb0667bd43098bfb1830a7c0cb6afebe6d1Kevin JohnsonKevin Johnson, who joined USA Today in 1994, covers national law enforcement issues and the Justice Department.  Send Kevin Johnson a Message More Stories:      [img alt=Kathy Griffin kisses Anderson Cooper's crotch height=80 width=80]http://images.outbrain.com/imageserver/s/3790033/bwpxJNdpQeooKJygXnpZQee-0-80x80.jpg&did=TswA5  Kathy Griffin kisses Anderson Cooper's crotch People | 5 days ago     [img alt=TMZ says Michael Phelps broke up with his cocktail waitress girlfriend height=80 width=80]http://images.outbrain.com/imageserver/s/3790014/2hco9NAmaljhJB7sTpIesAee-0-80x80.jpg&did=TrRwy  TMZ says Michael Phelps broke up with his cocktail waitress girlfriend Game On | 6 days ago     [img alt=After 43 years, Mich. calls off search for escapee height=80 width=80]http://images.outbrain.com/imageserver/s/3790007/6bket9eGpqdQTbrhUYmfcwee-0-80x80.jpg&did=TvenR  After 43 years, Mich. calls off search for escapee News | 3 days ago           [img alt=Induction Cooktops Are the Future height=80 width=80]http://images.outbrain.com/imageserver/s/2756021/JFyXIwJOpXnZLAj2rgnpqAee-0-80x80.jpg&did=TiAAG  Induction Cooktops Are the Future Oven Info |              

[392heminut]

WTF?????????? I thought these guys would have this stuff figured out after the 1986 Miami shootout! They learned a few things from that, but apparently they decided to pick and choose the lessons! After the Miami incident I had my guys shooting at targets from one yard away and only bringing the gun up enough to clear the holster and get on target. (Had to put that at the first part of the course, if we did it at the end of the course with all those bullet holes already in the targets the muzzle blast usually blew the center out of the target and it couldn't be scored.) The FBI has been so far behind the learning curve the last 20 years it's pathetic!

[SPBCTS]

Hemi I couldn't agree more, we trained at F.I. position, then  7 yards, then 15 and 25 with the side arms...starting in about 1980.

In my limited contact working with the FBI I wasn't that impressed...at all.

[imschur]

Jeez I guess Im the only one who is paranoid that they are training for a bigger picture that aligns with the homeland security ammo purchase.  ;D

[SPBCTS]

Jeez I guess Im the only one who is paranoid that they are training for a bigger picture that aligns with the homeland security ammo purchase.  ;D

Why would you call that paranoid thinking... <dontknow> :)

[BigP623]

"Jeez I guess Im the only one who is paranoid that they are training for a bigger picture that aligns with the homeland security ammo purchase."

Thats the exact thing I was hinting at the other day with my government ammo post....just seems fishy 

[StainTrain]

Training evolves as each agency realizes the tragedies of fallen officers along with limited time and resources for training.  I believe the old course to be marksmanship heavy with the majority of the shots taken from 15 yards and beyond.  This isn't much different than most other DOJ/DHS/DOI agencies other than some started close and worked out and a few started farther out and worked in.  When I initially began my law enforcement career, the agency I was with shot from the 50 yard line, which many of you know is unheard of these days.  Great for marksmanship, not so great for skinning that weapon and dropping lead pills into a bad guy.  The course's only saving grace was that we started at the 1.5 yard line and worked back to the 50 yard line.

Now looking at what has happened here is really no different than what other state and municipal departments have done.  They have formulated a qualification course which combines combat skills with a marksmanship component...with an emphasis on combat.  Which of those is more important is subject to much debate.  I am not shy in saying that if you master the basic marksmanship skills then all things can added to your tool box with work and repetition.  It has been my limited experience that shootouts don't happen in a slow fire bullseye environment. 

Keep in mind that you guys are talking about an organization that has hired cops and military personnel as an afterthought for well over a decade. Teaching pediatricians, scientist, and investment bankers how to be cops and aggressive is not as easy as it sounds. 

I have worked with numerous agencies and departments over my career and have always taken the opportunity to shoot their qualifications courses with an open mind.  In doing so, I have encountered state and locals that turned pistols into precision instruments in their hands and some feds that couldn't even qualify, also is true for the inverse. 

I believe the combat focus to be a good thing.  There have been too many Agents shot or shot at during high risk warrant service where SWAT wasn't employed.  This should never be tolerated and should be ONLY answered with aggressive/violent tactics to mitigate the threat. 
 

Edited September 2, 2014 by StainTrain