As a police officer and a first responder, you
already know that you'll be required to possess
and use a multitude of skills and knowledge
associated with other professions.  The one
thing those other professional practitioners do
not include in their tools of the trade is a
handgun.

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Firearms Training

Most police departments today are required to meet firearms training
standards set on a statewide basis.  In other words, your department will
be required to provide you with a minimum number of hours of
instruction.  Your department could exceed the minimum requirements if
it so chooses; however, the costs and scheduling difficulties associated with
additional training are often prohibitive.

The biggest block of training you’ll receive will come during your entry
level training where certified instructors will educate you in the use, care
and maintenance of your firearm.  Thereafter, during the course of your
career, you’ll be required to re-qualify with your firearm at scheduled
intervals.  Again, the frequency of training will depend on the size of your
department and its ability to finance and schedule the ongoing instruction.

If you join a police department of any size, you may well be required to re-
quality only once per year.  You may think that re-qualifying only on an
annual basis would not be sufficient to keep you at a high level of firearms
proficiency; however, you might be surprised.  When the time comes for
you to use your firearm in the line of duty, you’ll be amazed how much
your training has prepared you to utilize the weapon under stressful
circumstances.

Nothing will prevent you from practicing your firearm skills on your
own…I probably shouldn’t say “nothing.”  When I joined the Baltimore
Police Department in 1971, every district station house had a state of the
art indoor pistol range.  The only requirement for using the range was the
presence of at least two police officers for obvious safety reasons.  Of
course, that time was before all of the federal and state environmental
safety rules and regulations that would follow.  Those ranges would
eventually close and remain closed for years while the city considered
funding to meet the requirements of the ever expanding regulations.  
Before I retired, some of the ranges were reopened after considerable
expense only to close again, because the upgrades couldn’t keep up with
the pace of new regulations.  Okay, so you’re deprived of a departmental
facility to practice.  You can always, at your own expense, join a gun club
or range where you can practice your shooting skills.

The Wearing and Carrying of Your Firearm While in Plainclothes or Off-Duty

With rare exception, you’ll be allowed to carry a departmentally approved
pistol or revolver when you’re off-duty.  For example, a Baltimore police
officer may wear his or her service pistol, or approved off-duty pistol or
revolver, anywhere in the state of Maryland while off-duty.  I say
“approved” because a Baltimore police officer must be departmentally
qualified to carry any firearm other than his or her departmentally issued
service pistol.  Like Baltimore, your department may restrict your choice
for an off-duty weapon, or a weapon to carry while working in plainclothes,
by type and manufacturer.  Whether in plainclothes or off-duty, you
should carry your regular service pistol.  Here’s why.  Your service pistol
is the weapon with which you are most familiar.  I mentioned how training
kicks in under stressful circumstances.  Image yourself in one of those
circumstances and you reach for your pistol.  Instead of drawing your 9mm
semi-automatic Glock service pistol containing 17 rounds of ammunition,
you draw your five shot Smith & Wesson off-duty revolver.  While your
Smith & Wesson revolver is a fine weapon, it is different from your
primary weapon.  

Concealment of Your Firearm

Whether wearing your firearm while working in plainclothes or off-duty,
concealment of the weapon should always be a primary goal.  I know, I
know…the TV cops are running around all over the place in plainclothes
with pistols on their hips and their badges hooked to their belts in front of
the holsters.  Now, in the movies, these cops can walk through a crowed
mall with rarely a glance from the public; however, the public in the TV
show is made up of movie extras taking their direction from the show’s
director.  When you walk around in public with that gun hanging out,
you’ll get plenty of attention.

I took my wife out to lunch one afternoon.  As we sat at our table waiting
for our food to arrive, a young couple with an infant came into the
restaurant and took seats in a booth across from us.  Even though these
people were complete strangers to me, I recognized the young man as a
police officer evidenced by the gun and badge on his right hip.  The officer
could have been working and met his wife for lunch, or he could have been
off-duty…a circumstance irrelevant to this conversation.  

Instead of taking a seat on the right side of the booth where his weapon
would have been concealed from public view, he seated himself on the left
side leaving his weapon in open view to the public.  When you become a
police officer, you should get into the habit of seating yourself in public
places where you have a good overview of everything around you.  In this
instance, the officer’s wife had the overview while the officer’s view of his
surroundings was severely restricted.  It was interesting for me to watch
the facial expressions from the waitress and patrons whose attention was
attracted by the officer’s gun.  Except for some expressions of surprise or
curiosity, lunch time was uneventful.

Now…imagine yourself as that officer.  Your gun and badge are on display,
and you’re seated where you can’t see much of anything.  Two men enter
the restaurant.  Both men are armed with guns, and their intention is to
rob the restaurant.  

First Scenario:  The hold-up men survey the restaurant, and they spot
you.  They leave the restaurant and no robbery occurs.

Second Scenario:  These hold-up men are pretty cool.  They rob the cashier
without causing any disturbance, and they escape before anyone in the
restaurant, including you, becomes aware of what just happened.  It’s
unknown whether or not the robbers were aware of your presence.  If they
were aware of you, and they went ahead with the robbery anyway, it’s
probably better for you and your family that you remained ignorant of the
event.

Third Scenario:  The two hold-up men enter the restaurant.  Before they
go for the robbery, they spot you.  They walk out of the restaurant to the
parking lot where they revise their game plan.  Again, these guys are
cool.  When they reenter the restaurant, they enter by another entrance
where they can approach you from behind.  One of the men puts his gun to
your head while the second man puts his gun to your wife’s head.  The
first guy takes your gun, before both men, along with your wife, heads for
the cashier’s desk.  Fortunately, following the robbery of the cashier, the
robbers just take the money and your gun leaving your wife behind.

Fourth Scenario:  This time, the hold-up men are young, inexperienced
and anything but cool.  Their clumsy robbery attempt is quickly noticed by
patrons and screaming ensues.  One voice stands out as it shouts,
“Officer, officer!”  You turn toward the commotion, but one of the hold-up
men spots you first.  He begins firing round after round from his semi-
auto pistol.  The second hold-up man begins firing at you as well as you
finally identify the threats and begin returning fire.  Your training kicks
in as you engage the suspects alternating your shots between the two
gunmen.  Dozens of rounds are fired among the three guns, before the
gun battle ends.  Finally, both gunmen are down and incapacitated.  
Unbelievably, no one other than the robbers is hit by any of the gunfire.  
Your wife and child are covered with food, beverage, and broken glass and
dinnerware as the robbers’ bullets smashed every plate, dish and glass on
your table.

Everything gets eerily quiet for a few moments as everyone picks
themselves up from the floor while checking themselves for bullet holes.  
As the realization beings to sink in that only the robbers are down, the
silence is broken by a few hand claps that quickly crescendos into loud
applause and cheering.  Yeah…right.  If you buy into this scenario, you’re
watching too much television.

Fifth Scenario:  This scenario is identical to the fourth except for the
aftermath.  Along with the robbers, two patrons are dead with four others
wounded…two seriously.  

All of the bullets you fired found their mark.  The shots that killed and
wounded the patrons all came from the suspects.  Your defense will be that
you had no choice but to return fire since the suspects were trying to kill
you.  Your defense for your action is absolutely correct and justifiable.  
However, this question will inevitably be asked, “Why did the suspects
begin firing at you?”  

Alright…you say to me, “In the first scenario, I prevented the robbery.”  
My response to you is another question, “How do you know you prevented
the robbery?”  You see, that’s the problem with deterrence.  When
something doesn’t happen, there’s no way to prove that you deterred
anything.

Let’s go back to the fourth scenario with the clumsy robbers.  This time,
however, your weapon is concealed, and you’re seated in a position where
you can quickly identify the events unfolding.  You draw your pistol and
hold it against your leg so that you can readily engage the suspects if – and
this is a big if – your inaction to engage would mean death or serious
injury to yourself or others.  This time, you’re not advertising yourself as
a police officer, and the suspects won’t see your gun and badge, and no
patron is likely to shout, “Officer.”  The robbery goes a little rough, but
the suspects don’t shoot or otherwise hurt anyone before they escape with
you in pursuit.

Aside from all the scenarios I just described, carrying your gun exposed in
public while in plainclothes is just stupid.  It doesn’t serve any purpose
other than making you look immature.  A lot of people get freaked out by
guns.  While most may not confront you with their displeasure, there will
always be some who will readily voice their objections.  While you’ll
encounter people who will engage you in stupid debates about anything,
this is one debate you can easily avoid.