Local Law Enforcement Hold Real-Life Firearm Training

Edmonson Voice Staff, Photos by Clicks McGee
About three to four times per year, local law enforcement agencies hold a joint firing range session and try to include all officers that work in our county.  According to Sheriff Shane Doyle, in today's world where police shootings are reported in minutes, rather than days after, and where information (and often misinformation) is spread quickly through social media, Edmonson County local officers want to train diligently to avoid any questionable uses of any force, but most especially lethal force. 

"It's an unfortunate reality that we carry a gun because we have to, not because we want to," Doyle said. He then explained how they train with realistic targets, and mix "shoot" targets (life-size photos of armed assailants) with "no-shoot" targets (life-size photos of people holding water bottles, cell phones, etc...) He said this adds more real-life elements to the training. 

"It's better to make mistakes on a paper target than to accidentally shoot an innocent person," he added. "I want to thank the Brownsville Police Dept, as well as the other officers from Fish and Wildlife, the Dept. of Agriculture, and also Rockcastle Shooting Center for allowing us to use their facilities."