LE classes at SHOT Show outline why every cop needs advanced tactical training

As we said in this earlier article, Police1 columnists and staff planned to attend the LEEP sessions during SHOT Show 2018 – and indeed we did.

On the first day, I attended "Top Tactical Concepts for Law Enforcement Operations," and sitting behind me were three Police1 readers from Knoxville, Tennessee: Deputy Chief Gary Holliday, range master and armorer Sgt. Shane Watson and training coordinator Sgt. Tom Walker.

Some LEEP sessions are led by vendors to show off their new wares and how to put them to use, while others are taught by the National Tactical Officers Association (NTOA). One of the main points of every NTOA session was that all law enforcement professionals need tactical training – even the newbie patrol officer.

Everyone in law enforcement knows that SWAT ends with the word tactics, so many may assume that only SWAT teams need to be tactically trained. Nothing could be further from the truth, especially in today’s turbulent world when the first officer on scene might be required to take immediate action to free hostages or protect civilians.