Most officers and firearm instructors agree the way we’ve trained in the past isn’t the best way to prepare officers for the reality of the street. Standing on a line with everyone planted to the ground and shooting at static targets isn’t training for a gunfight. Shooting a couple of slow shots into the middle of a wide-open target, slowly changing magazines and looking around to “scan for other threats” isn’t doing much to help officers prevail when someone is trying to kill them or someone else.

This doesn’t mean line drills don’t serve a purpose or are a waste of training time. Standing still and focusing on accuracy reinforces marksmanship fundamentals and builds dexterity for smoother, more efficient reloads. In instructor development classes, it provides a way for new instructors to work with each other to provide coaching and feedback while improving their ability to diagnose shooting errors. These are core foundational skills that we can use to build gunfighting skills.

Unless the fight starts while the officer is already behind cover, officers are moving — and moving fast.

Get real

The problem lies with training programs and instructors who fail to train officers for the realities of deadly force encounters. We have more video evidence than ever before about the realities of officer-involved shootings. Officers aren’t standing still while slowly pressing the trigger to the rear. They aren’t firing a shot, then assessing and scanning for threats. They’re shooting fast, assessing while fighting and focused on the threat who’s trying to kill them.

The vast majority of law enforcement firearms training includes movement. Unfortunately, it usually begins and ends with the introduction of the rolling Groucho Walk. Rolling heel-to-toe smoothly and slowly is an effective way to present movement to officers as a first experience, but it doesn’t mirror reality. Unless the fight starts while the officer is already behind cover, officers are moving — and moving fast.

So, let’s get real. Training to move at the speed of a gunfight means moving dynamically. If you’re going to move, you might as well get moving. Once you’ve Groucho Walked across the range, pick up the pace and move like you mean it. A progression of slow Groucho Walking, regular walking pace, fast walking, slow jog, fast jog and finally an honest running speed should all be part of firearms training.

Tips and tricks

Moving fast and shooting well means training time. It takes range time to shoot well while moving dynamically. As you progressively begin to move faster, there are a few things to keep in mind to make it easier to move and improve your accuracy. First, maintain an athletic position. This allows you to keep your balance over varied terrain, gives you the ability to quickly change direction and helps keep your shooting platform level, helping maintain acceptable accuracy. An athletic position means the knees are bent, your butt is lower to the ground and your weight is biased toward your toes regardless of the direction of movement.

Second, practice seeing what movement does to your sighting system. For example, if you’re using a pistol-mounted optic, the reticle will move in a predictable pattern based on your speed. Once you see that pattern, you will see a rhythm to your movement that allows you to be more accurate even while moving faster than you’ve trained in the past.

Lastly, your shooting platform from the hips up is crucial. The same factors we teach for static shooting apply, but they become critically important to minimize movement of the pistol while you’re moving fast. Keep a slight bend in your arms, elbows rotated slightly down toward the ground and hard grip pressure, especially with your support hand, and press the palms of your hands together. This will help create the predictable pattern of movement that I mentioned before.

Training for the realities of a law enforcement gunfight shouldn’t be a luxury.

Dynamic movement drills

Here are some drills to improve your accuracy while shooting on the move. But first, there are a few things to keep in mind. I do not recommend moving backward. Moving backward fast has very predictable results: we end up on our butts. Falling backward and landing on your backside during a gunfight would suck.

Start slow, but don’t stay slow. Push the pace outside your comfort zone, but stay safe doing it. The faster you move, the more uncomfortable it’s going to feel, because you haven’t been there before. The more you do it, the more comfortable you will be with fast, dynamic movement while shooting.

When you first start doing this kind of training, your marksmanship is going to suffer. This is new, so you’re not going to be a superstar right out of the gate. Start with a full-size silhouette paper target and mark your rounds after each round. Once you get better, move to steel targets such as A/C zone silhouettes, a 12-inch round target or an 8-by-12-inch rectangle target. If you use steel, make sure you’re not getting closer than 10 yards from the target before stopping.

Moving forward from the 20-yard line, start with the progression from slow Groucho Walking, regular walking pace, fast walking, slow jog, fast jog and then an honest running speed. This will help you understand the rhythm of movement and what your sights are doing in relation to your target.

Next, add quick, dynamic lateral movement and sudden stops before engaging your target. Remember to stay low and explode in the other direction. Stay low while stabilizing your shooting platform and engage your target before moving the other direction.

After some reps of those drills, try these other excellent drills I like to use to improve performance. Most of these work best using a shot timer so you have an objective way to measure performance.

9×9 drill — 9 rounds

Setup: I got this drill from one of my mentors and role models, Dave Spaulding. Using a 3-by-5-inch index card on an 8-inch paper plate as your target, place two cones about 15 feet apart at the 5-yard line.

Description: Standing behind one of the cones at the 5-yard line, on the signal, the shooter will draw and fire three shots to the index card. Move quickly to the other cone and fire three shots to the index card. Move back to the first cone and fire three shots to the index card. Time stops on the last shot fired.

Scoring: Placing all nine hits on the index cards in nine seconds or less is excellent. Hits on the plate but off the index card add a one-second penalty.

X-drill — 12 rounds

Setup: This one will get your heart rate up! Using a silhouette paper target with a realistic center mass scoring area or a steel target (no closer than 10 yards), set cones up in an X pattern with the cones about 5 yards from each other.

Description: Standing at one of the farthest corner cones, on the signal, the shooter will advance diagonally toward the opposite cones, making three hits on target. Once the shooter has made it to the opposite forward cone, they will safely and quickly move up range to the rearmost cone on that side. Once at the opposite rearmost cone from where they originally started the drill, the shooter will advance diagonally toward the opposite cone, making three hits on target before moving safely and quickly up range to the original starting point. Once at the original starting point, the shooter will repeat the drill for a total of nine rounds. Time stops on the last shot fired.

Scoring: On steel, a total of 12 hits on target must be made (three each moving forward). On paper, no penalty time for center mass hits, one-second penalty for hits outside the center mass and five-second penalty for misses.

It takes practice

Set these up and work on moving and hitting at the speed of a gunfight. Training for the realities of a law enforcement gunfight shouldn’t be a luxury. It should be something we do every time we hit the range. If you’re not getting this type of training from your department, take ownership of your own training and skill development. The life you save may be your own.