How the police see OSC

This past week I attended the TTPOA SWAT conference. It was held in Dallas, so there was no excuse for missing it (other than lack of time, sleep, and other trivialities). The most interesting thing for me was the extremely positive reaction of the officers to Our Safer Community's mission.

As usual, the Texas Tactical Police Officers Association did a great job of putting on the training conference.

As one police sergeant from a small metropolitan SWAT team said, "I don't worry about good people with guns. No cop has ever been shot by a CHL holder, and twice citizens have jumped in and helped me in a fight with a suspect." A number of officers mentioned the necessity of building better situation awareness as the first step in avoiding becoming a victim of violent crime. As one detective explained, "People walk into trouble all of the time, and there aren't enough police in the world to be everywhere for everyone. If you can't take care of yourself, we'll catch the guy who messed you up...but you personally are out of luck."

Saying that the Pre-CHL training course "definitely fills a need," one experienced SWAT officer from a large metro area felt that the extensive scenario-based training used by OSC was the best way to develop better-prepared, safer citizens.

In a week of training alongside police from all over the state, none showed any reservation about concealed handgun license holders (except for the wry comment that some citizens were a little too willing to show their firearm to the police officer: don't reach for it unless asked to). However, these are tactical officers, generally more experienced and more trained than the average patrol officer. That may make a difference in their acceptance level, but I suspect that anyone more than a year or two out of the police academy would share the perspective of these experienced law enforcement professionals.