Training Their Fire
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A national shooting competition for police officers draws criticism in Albuquerque, where there have been 27 fatal "officer involved" shootings since 2010.
The faint popping of a hundred-plus guns firing at once has a particularly dramatic echo in the desert. In Western films, it comes from the pistols of Billy the Kid and his band of rapscallions. But Albuquerque, New Mexico, isn't the Wild West anymore; for six days in mid-September, that popping sound will come from the guns of police officers from across the globe, along with those of Border Patrol and FBI agents, who've gathered for the National Tactical Police Competition and the National Police Shooting Championships. The events bring more than 400 law-enforcement officers to Albuquerque each year and net the city an estimated $160,000. This year, against the backdrop of a national and local debate about police violence and militarization, spurred by this summer's deadly shooting of unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, they're also bringing controversy.
The National Rifle Association has sponsored the Police Shooting Championships since 1962. For decades, the event took place in Jackson, Mississippi, until structural issues following Hurricane Katrina forced the NRA to look elsewhere. Albuquerque's city-owned Shooting Range Park was a practical choice—it has enough space for as many as 100 shooters to line up during competition—and features a backdrop of the Sandia Mountains. The city plans to host the contest at least until 2017.
But in other respects, Albuquerque makes a less-than-ideal venue for events such as "Head Shots Only," meant to help officers "incorporate head shots into their training," and "Accurate, Fast, and Fun," which encourages participants to "kill" as many targets as possible in the shortest time. The city has long been beset by more than its share of police shootings. Since 2010, 27 fatal "officer-involved" shootings have taken place in the city of 500,000—about the same number that New York City, with a population 15 times as large, recorded in 2011 and 2012 combined. Though the city has paid out $30 million in settlements, no officers have faced indictment. The Justice Department, which has been investigating the Albuquerque Police Department for two years, released a findings letter in April that documented a "culture of violence" within the department, which it said "engages in a pattern or practice of use of excessive force." DOJ is assigning a federal monitor for the department (the position has not yet been filled). Since the letter's release, Albuquerque police officers have fatally shot two more people.
Read more at National Journal ...
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