Groveland Twp.- Several local troopers are now just a little better shots.
The Michigan State Police-Groveland Post, recently had their annual spring shoot at Middleton’s Gravel Pit on Dixie Highway.
Every year the MSP has three firearm training exercises, spring, summer and fall, that rely on a pass/fail basis. During the exercises, the troopers practice marksmanship training, reload drills, malfunction drills and real life situation/scenario drills. In the spring exercise, handguns, rifles and shotguns were used.
This year the Groveland Post received 15 new Colt M-4 223 caliber rifles, replacing the old H&K’s. The H&K’s were 18 years old, just about reaching their life expectancy. Each rifle was approximately $950. The 9 mm handguns were replaced two years ago, they now use 40 calibers. In the early 1980s, the Winchester shotguns were replaced by their current firearm, the Remington 870. That type of firearm was used in WW II, Vietnam and has a very long life expectancy.
‘The troopers have to be proficient with fire arms. When they pass the tests given, they receive a distinguished expert pin. Most, if not all of the troopers here have that pin,? said Wayne Smith, a nine year veteran trooper and a member of the Emergency Services team.
Silhouette targets are set up and each course is different depending on the firearm used.
Sgt. Michael P. Benjamin from the Ordinance and Marksmanship Training Unit in Lansing, assisted the officers in using the new rifles. All troopers must go through 22 weeks of practical and tactical training at the recruit school in Lansing, where Sgt. Benjamin is in charge of the firearms unit.
‘Sometimes we go to more tactical exercises for different shoots such as street survival, real life situations and moving target training,? said Post Commander Lt. Doug Lubahn, also a firearms instructor.
One situation involved in the training is having the officers drive up in the squad car acting as if responding to a call. The situation is explained and the trooper has to efficiently assess the scenario and perform the basic duties they were trained to do. Another type of exercise involves intentionally jamming the firearm.
‘We load it with live and dummy rounds, so when it does jam it forces the officer to perform the necessary malfunction drill,? said Lubahn.
‘In high stress situations, they must always revert back to trained skills. They experience certain behaviors that can mentally and physically impair them. They have to go from thinking mode, to reactionary mode.?
These training exercises and shoots are a necessary part of the job. Every five years, each trooper must go to Lansing to be updated on new laws, advanced skills and anything new and relevant to the MSP.
All 64 posts in the state of Michigan must perform these shooting exercises three times a year with different scenarios and different types of weather to be able to perform their duties properly.