The men stood in a row at the 25-yard line. They loaded their weapons, got into the proper stance and raised their arms parallel to the ground.
Several North Brunswick police officers fire at targets with handguns and shotguns, part of a mandated state qualification to carry weapons. Each town goes twice each year, and North Brunswick was scheduled for the county range in Woodbridge April 27 to May 7. In order to qualify to carry firearms, officers must have 80 percent of the bullets shot hit the target. An instructor began yelling out commands, or “called a course.”
The group started to shoot, shot after shot after shot. They moved closer to the targets, kneeling down, hiding behind barricades, and shooting straight on.
The paper targets swayed back and forth from the force of the bullets.
Then, the thunderous sound stopped.
The bullet holes were counted.
PHOTOS BY JENNIFER AMATO This continued through various levels of qualifications for firearms for members of the North Brunswick Police Department, April 27 to May 7. Becoming recertified to carry a handgun and shotgun during daytime and nighttime conditions is mandated by the state Attorney General’s Office, and the police officers went to the county range in Woodbridge to meet those semi-annual specifications.
There are also about five officers who are certified to shoot assault rifles, and they must test as well.
“This is a test,” said Officer Craig Patton, one of nine North Brunswick officers certified as a firearms instructor. “We try to simulate some of the shooting that may happen, God forbid, if we have to shoot out on the street. … What this does is prepare us for that time it may be needed.
The different scenarios are meant to mirror possible real-life situations, such as shooting from around the sides or over the top of a barrier, shooting with the strong hand and support hand, or shooting from the knees in different situations where an officer may be confronted head on, may need cover or may be dealing with a hostage crisis.
“It all builds on skills that you’ll use in the real world. If you train hard here, in the real world it will be easy, it will be natural,” Patton said. “In the real world it’s not just, Go to the academy, become a police officer and go out into the real world. There’s a lot of training involved.”
All 76 male and female sworn officers, from the patrol unit to the chief, must meet a minimum of 80 percent accuracy on the targets before being qualified to carry a weapon on duty.
Every one of the officers passed all of the requirements. If they hadn’t, they would take a timeout, do a dry fire without any bullets, and go through training with the instructors to correct their stance and firing motions.
“It can be troublesome, especially with men, having bad habits already from playing gun-type games as boys,” said senior firearms instructor Paul Braconi, who was inspired by his remedial instructor over 20 years ago to learn the proper ways to shoot. “As an adult, when you have to shoot for real, the way it works for toys doesn’t work for real.”
One officer who definitely didn’t need any remedial training is Frank Tocci, a 23-year veteran of the police force, who qualified with a score of 56 out of 60 with the handgun during the day and 38 out of 40 under simulated nighttime conditions. He scored perfectly with the shotgun in both conditions.
“I’ve been around guns my whole life,” he said, referring to his hunting background.
Yet having to fire in a life-or-death situation is completely different.
“You go to your training when you’re under stress,” he said.
Officer George Himmel, a policeman for 24 years, said he did very well also.
“It’s a little bit of pressure because it’s a test. Technically, you have to pass; if you don’t pass, they can take your gun away from you,” he said. “It’s a skill.”
Using a gun only occasionally to put a dying deer out of its misery, Himmel said he’s always been a pretty good shot, even with his non-dominant left hand.
“It’s a little difficult because I’m not a lefty, but you have to practice in case something happens to your right hand and you have to shoot with your left hand,” he said.
After the initial shooting qualifications were done, the officers reviewed maneuvers with a PR-24 side handle baton, and then went through a rapid-response, activeshooter, tactical live-fire movement course, simulating a shooter inside a building with civilians. Those exercises are kept confidential.
“This is one of the places where we have to keep up with what the criminals are doing,” Braconi said.
The next qualifications are scheduled for September.