Victoria Police introduces more lifelike gun training at academy
Future police recruits will have their situational awareness put to the ultimate test when faced with new shooting targets featuring armed mock offenders and silhouettes with outlines of human organs.
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Shooting targets will be made more lifelike in an overhaul of gun training for Victoria’s police.
They will include armed mock offenders as well as civilians to better simulate the pressure officers confront in real-life emergencies.
Some of the silhouettes could also feature outlines of human organs.
The Sunday Herald Sun can reveal thousands of new targets — some of a person holding a weapon and others with innocuous items like a phone or badge — will be used for pistol and rifle training.
Male and female targets with their faces uncovered or partially covered are also being sourced.
Victoria Police spokeswoman Beck Angel said: “The new targets will offer a range of features to improve accuracy and variables to allow instructors to modify their training techniques.’’
“This includes more lifelike targets that will identify potential threats in order to improve members’ situational awareness’’.
“By using a combination of targets with and without threats, members will be encouraged to make appropriate risk assessments before taking action,” she said.
The existing target for police training — a grey outline of a person from the waist up with playing card symbols either side — has been assessed as no longer best practice.
Documents state the new silhouettes will encourage officers to “assess the potential threat before shooting” and improve their situational awareness.
“Identifiable organ outlines or zones” could also be included in the new designs.
“The purpose of the firearms targets is to provide a consistent training environment for recruits and operational members,’’ Ms Angel said.
“The request for new targets is the result of Victoria Police’s ongoing efforts to ensure its training packages are contemporary and follow best practice.”
A search for a provider of the targets, to be used in all of Victoria Police’s firearms training programs, has begun.
They will be rolled out from the middle of next year and early 2021.
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Victoria Police in October moved to back its members to take drastic action, including shooting suspects as a last resort, to stop vehicles being used as weapons in the wake of the Bourke St attack.
New semiautomatic rifles are also being issued to public order units and regional police to cut response times to terror attacks and active shooter emergencies.