Kaua`i County Police haven’t fired a weapon at a criminal in almost a decade, according to training officers. The recent incident in which a man invaded the main police station’s parking lot in Lihu`e with a rifle and was disarmed
Kaua`i County Police haven’t fired a weapon at a criminal in almost a decade, according to training officers.
The recent incident in which a man invaded the main police station’s parking lot in Lihu`e with a rifle and was disarmed by officers without a shot being fired highlights the department’s restraint.
But officers are trained to be ready to shoot if need be.
Sgt. Carl Oliver, one of the department’s target range masters, said each new recruit to the Police Department spends at least a week learning about and then firing their weapons.
Recruits are in the classroom one day a week and on the range the remaining four days.
Oliver said recruits are trained on the 40-caliber semi-automatic pistol that is the department’s standard sidearm. They are also trained on the Remington pump shotgun.
Miles Tanabe, the officer in charge of the department’s firearms training, noted that the changing nature of police work has changed the way rangemasters teach recruits, too.
“Many of our newest recruits have never touched a firearm” before applying to be police officers, Oliver said.
Tanabe said officers needs “to be more sophisticated and get their ideas across without force. New recruits are often more academically inclined.”
But Oliver said firearms training has to serious because of the possibility that officers will have to defend themselves and civilians.
“The police officer has to be able to use that weapon. That is why firearms training is so important,” Oliver said.
He said recruits are trained in speed and accuracy, and to fire from various distances.
“If I told you there will be a gunfight in a half hour, you could prepare. And that’s not how gunfights happen in the street. You don’t know when, or where, or how far away,” Oliver said. “I train them anywhere from point blank to 50 yards for the handgun. Eighty-five percent (of the shooting) is within 20 feet of the target.
“I alter courses of fire almost every time,” because in a real gunfight, you don’t know what to expect.”
Oliver said he advises even veteran officers to practice at the police range in the area of Halfway Bridge (Kipu-Maluhai) at least once a month.
“They don’t have to shoot forever. But even 15 or 20 rounds a month would be good for them,” he said.
Oliver himself goes to the range as often as possible.
The range is also used by the Coast Guard, state Department of Land and Natural Resources officers, and the sheriffs (who transport prisoners) to sharpen their shooting eyes.
Tanabe and Oliver dismissed a complaint of apparent racism from a citizen about range targets she saw on the department’s recruitment tape on a cable public-access show. The eight-minute tape, entitled “Recruitment Presentation,” shows some officers firing at a life-size target which is a photo of a long-haired white male with a gun.
Tanabe said the department once shot at silhouettes, but there was a stir on the mainland about the silhouettes because they were black and police departments around the country, including Kaua`i, changed to photographs.
The change took place on Kaua`i in 1995.
All of the targets used by the Kaua`i department are photos of Caucasians.
But Cheri Manning, a spokeswoman for the Law Enforcement Targets Co. in Minneapolis, Minn., told Tanabe all the models were company employees and they were all Caucasians because that’s who worked there.
Tanabe also pointed out that Oliver and Mark Begley, another range master,were also Caucasians. And in the recruitment video, at least four white officers are prominently featured.
Tanabe said the video’s director was of Chinese ancestry, and the editor was Caucasian.
“We’ve gotten nothing but compliments on the video. There was nothing racist involved. Those are the only targets we have,” Tanabe said.
Staff writer Dennis Wilken can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) and
mailto:dwilken@pulitzer.net
