Shoot or Don't Shoot? Officers Test Their Split-Second Decision Skills

With guns drawn and their fingers on the triggers, Norwalk police officers may have to make a  life-or-death decision on whether or not to shoot someone. And they may have to make that choice in a split-second.

But it isn't often that police have to confront that decision, and it isn't easy to practice making it. So in the past 10 days, all 172 of the sworn personnel, one by one, went into a special rented, training trailer where they got more experience with facing that choice.

Watching realistic videos, each officer was confronted by images of armed and violent people as well as innocent civilians who could be mistaken as threats. The officers fired or didn't fire with their own guns, using live ammunition.

Operated by Blue Line Corp. of Sudbury, Mass., the trailer’s walls are lined with soundproofing material, and one end has a backstop to catch bullets. Incident scenarios are projected on a paper screen at one end of the vehicle, which was parked near the boat slips in Veterans Memorial Park.

The program concluded Thursday afternoon with Police Chief Harry W. Rilling taking his turn, after which the press was invited to observe an example of how it enables officers to sharpen their skills in "shoot/don’t shoot" situations.

Since live ammunition is used in the trailer's 10-meter firing range, Norwalk’s police officers fired 40 cal. cartridges with their service pistols. The bullet holes in the screen are patched with white stickers after each scenario is completed.

The 10-day program cost the department $15,000, with funds coming from its asset forfeiture account. There are nearly 800 video scenarios available and each officer spent up to an hour reacting to various situations, according to department spokesman Lt. Paul Resnick.

The video for this article shows one scenario given to officers.

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