GUNS Magazine August 1957

Crack-shot Louisville, Ky., police show part of their awards
as proof that cops CAN shoot if given adequate training.
How to handle the police service revolver safely is demonstrated
by Henry L. Sloan in the gun vault of FBI Academy.
of trouble which had not developed-and
he did not know
how to uncock it without pulling the trigger. . . . Then
there is the one about the officers who were called to
dispose of a large dog that had bitten several children in a
school yard. The policemen approached within a few yards
and commenced firing. They ran out of ammunition. The
dog, no longer amused, went home. The police followed,
and the scene was repeated. Nobody knows (or will tell)
how many shots were fired, but all agree that the dog was
not hit. The dog catcher was called, finally. He caught the
dog.
Disgraceful? Sure it's disgraceful. But the point is that
neither of the police departments involved in these situations
had been given enough money to cover police firearms
training. In both cases, the officers had to buy their
own guns and their own ammunition. Neither city had
range facilities for police pistol practice. Men were hired,
required to wear guns, given potentially dangerous jobs
made more dangerous hy the very fact that they were
armed-yet no check was made to discover whether or not , ,,
. they knew how to use the weapons, nor was any effort made . +->
to teach them.
There are stories on the other side of the coin, too;
stories proving the efficiency of police officers with weapons
where they are permitted or required to develop that
efficiency.
In Kansas City recently, a "holdup in progress" call was
received and two officers, first to arrive at the scene,
captured one bandit who was acting as a lookout and
driver. They had to hold this man and at the same time
fight it out with two others who were using a woman as a
hostage. One officer, already dangerously wounded, felled
Facing firing line of Providence, R.I., officers holding service guns at safe "Raise Pistol" position, photographer gets
dramatically unusual shot of police firearms training in progress. Steep slope back of targets provides natural bullet stop.