Gunshots were heard throughout St. Gabriel last week as LSU Police Department officers were tested for shooter qualification.
LSUPD requires officers to pass the test twice a year, while the Louisiana Peace Officer Training Council, Louisiana POST, requires testing only once a year, said Sgt. Blake Tabor, LSUPD spokesman.
“[Louisiana POST is] like the Supreme Court of law enforcement training,” Tabor said.
LSUPD conducts its qualifying test at the department’s range, located on the LSU AgCenter Research Branch in St. Gabriel.
“We own the range, but we allow other law enforcement departments and the military to use the range,” said Sgt. Kory Melancon, LSUPD firearm instructor.
Officers shoot 60 bullets in the test and can earn as many as 120 points. To pass, officers must obtain 96 out of 120 possible points, and training instructors must earn 108 points out of 120, Melancon said.
“We have averaged 108 to 109 out of 120 over the past [several] years,” Melancon said.
Melancon said scoring a 114 is expert, 120 is master, and scoring a 120 five times is considered distinguished master, and these rankings earn officers a recognition pin.
All officers qualified this year, scoring in the range of 96 to 120 points, Tabor said.
Tabor said if an officer fails the test, he or she must go through additional training and is given three more chances to pass the qualification course.
Tabor said failure to pass could result in the officer’s termination.
Shots are scored by accuracy. Officers receive two points for shooting inside the white rim of the human silhouette target and one point for shooting outside the rim. If a bullet fails to hit the silhouette, the officer receives zero points, Melancon said.
The course tests the accuracy of the officers’ strong and weak sides in five stages.
Melancon said the strong side of a shooter is the hand the person uses to write and perform other tasks.
During the first stage, officers start out at a post 25 yards away from the target and have one minute to shoot six rounds from the strong side and six rounds from the weak side, according to the official POST course guide.
At stage two, the officers move to 15 yards away from the target and shoot three rounds on the left and right side of the post in 45 seconds, according to the course guide.
The third stage is completed in three phases, according to the POST guide. During phase one, officers have 10 seconds to shoot six rounds with their strong hand.
Officers then move to phase two, where they have 10 seconds to shoot six rounds with their off-hand and then move on to phase three. During phase three, officers shoot six rounds standing and six rounds kneeling, then must reload their guns within 25 seconds.
In stages four and five, officers complete close-range shooting.
Stage four requires officers to shoot three rounds in three seconds from 4 yards away from the target twice in phase one, then repeat the same drill for phase two.
During stage five, officers shoot two rounds in two seconds from 2 yards away three times.
Louisiana POST has also implemented close-range shooting training at night, according to Tabor.
He said the department also turns on the patrol-car lights and siren during the night shooting to simulate realistic shooting situations.
 
 
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Contact Celeste Ansley at [email protected]