Fontenelle Dumans Canetti, Elisa

Orr, Rob Marc

Schram, Ben

English

Law enforcement officers are typically required to pass an annual marksmanship assessment to continue patrol duties. These annual assessments may not reflect on officer perceptions of confidence and handling of their firearm. The aim of this study was to identify differences in success rates and officer perceptions in firearm confidence and handling between a current Traditional Pistol Assessment (TPA) and a Proposed Pistol Assessment (PPA)

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Bond UniversityResearch RepositoryA Comparison Of Two Law Enforcement Marksmanship Assessments.Orr, Rob Marc; Fontenelle Dumans Canetti, Elisa; Schram, BenLink to output in Bond University research repository.Recommended citation(APA):Orr, R. M., Fontenelle Dumans Canetti, E., & Schram, B. (2023). A Comparison Of Two Law EnforcementMarksmanship Assessments.. 20-21. Abstract fromThe 4th International Physical Employment Standards Conference, Robina, Queensland, Australia.General rightsCopyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright ownersand it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.For more information, or if you believe that this document breaches copyright, please contact the Bond University research repositorycoordinator.Download date: 18 Jul 2023TITLE: A Comparison Of Two Law Enforcement Marksmanship Assessments  Robin Orr1,2, Elisa F.D. Canetti1,2 & Ben Schram1,2  1Tactical Research Unit, Bond University, QLD, Australia: 2 Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine, Institution, Bond University, QLD, Australia  PURPOSE: Law enforcement officers are often required to pass an annual marksmanship assessment to continue patrol duties. This assessment may not reflect on officer perceptions of confidence and handling of their firearm. The aim of this study was to identify differences in success rates and officer perceptions in firearm confidence and handling between a current Traditional Pistol Assessment (TPA) and a Proposed Pistol Assessment (PPA).   METHODS: A prospective, within-subjects, randomised, repeated measures study design was used. Officers (male n=8; female n=6; length of service 5.8±4.8 years) from an Australian law enforcement agency participated in the TPA or PPA in randomised order (group randomisation). The TPA and PPA were composed of seven (n=24 rounds) and six (n=16 rounds) serials, respectively. The TPA was a static marksmanship assessment while the PPA included serials mimicking real-world scenarios (e.g., moving backward while shooting, shooting from behind a barrier, etc.). Officers completed a survey pre- and post assessments rating how comfortable, confident, and safe they felt handling and firing their firearm. Scores ranged from zero (signifying not safe, comfortable, or confident) to 10 (signifying extremely safe, comfortable, or confident). Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed with significance set at alpha < 0.01 to mitigate familywise error.  RESULTS: Four (29%) officers passed the TPA, while seven (50%) passed the PPA. While the Wilcoxon Signed Rank test found no significant differences between the scores of the surveys given pre-assessment and post TPA, significant improvements pre-assessment and after PPA across all survey domains were identified (Table 1).   RELEVANCE: More officers passed the PPA assessment than the TPA. Officer weapon handling confidence was also found to be greater following the PPA assessment. When employing a marksmanship assessment an organisation should consider 1) situational requirements of weapon employment, and 2) second order effects (like confidence in weapon handling).     Table 1: Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test Results comparing survey results pre and post TPA and PPA.    Variable Comparison P-Value R   Initial vs Post TPA 0.83 -0.33 Handling Comfort Initial vs Post PPA 0.003 -0.57   Post TPA vs Post PPA 0.014 -0.46       Initial vs Post TPA 0.52 -0.37 Handling Confidence Initial vs Post PPA 0.002 -0.6   Post TPA vs Post PPA 0.14 -0.46       Initial vs Post TPA 0.102 -0.31 Handling Safety Initial vs Post PPA 0.015 -0.46   Post TPA vs Post PPA 0.034 -0.4       Initial vs Post TPA 0.096 -0.32 Firing Comfort Initial vs Post PPA 0.004 -0.54   Post TPA vs Post PPA 0.009 -0.49       Initial vs Post TPA 0.202 -0.24 Firing Confidence Initial vs Post PPA 0.002 -0.59   Post TPA vs Post PPA 0.01 -0.48       Initial vs Post TPA 0.408 -0.16 Firing Safety Initial vs Post PPA 0.008 -0.5   Post TPA vs Post PPA 0.071 -0.34  

A Comparison Of Two Law Enforcement Marksmanship Assessments.

https://pure.bond.edu.au/ws/files/209893312/Orr_R_IPES2023_1.pdf

A Comparison Of Two Law Enforcement Marksmanship Assessments.

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