
Cops Shouldn't Compete in USPSA
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Now that I have your attention, lets discuss the benefits of competition shooting for the law enforcement community and the on going battles with the all mighty, all knowing red hats.
Table of Contents
Who Are The Red Hats?
The infamous red hats are your department/agencies firearms instructors. Now don't get me wrong, not all red hats are created equally. But, in regards to this blog, when we talk about red hats, we are discussing the crusty old heads who rather jump off the Grand Canyon than admit they are wrong or that shooting has evolved. OK moving on...
Benefits of Competition Shooting
This list could essentially be endless but today we are going to focus on three different benefits from competition shooting.
- Networking for your department
- Putting your training to the test
- Performance on demand
I'd like to think the last one is arguably the most important but lets dive into it.
P.S check out this cute photo of Sean Griffith, USPSA GM and prior LEO.
Networking For Your Department
"Are you saying Pam or Pan?!"
Networking for your department has many layers. This includes networking for yourself, learning from higher level shooters at these competitions, thus improving your knowledge and in return bringing new skill sets back to your department or team. This allows your entire team to benefit (the same could be said about taking shooting classes, just remember not all classes are created equal).
Meeting unique people within the space, that benefits your brand (your department/agency). For example, I have shot with a district attorney in the past, which allows him and I to bond on a level outside of the work relationship and also humanizes both of us, which results in a better working relationship with the attorneys office. This is networking 101.
Another example, I have shot with an individual who flips houses. This has granted our team access to houses they plan to demolish, giving us unique looks at unseen "shoot houses" and allowing our breachers to test out their equipment.
There are endless opportunities for you to network at shooting competitions and these two examples just barely scratch the surface. Moving on we have, putting your training to the test.

Putting Your Training To The Test
"But bruther I do not need to put my training to the test, I already have our departments qualification course".....
If only there was a place where they setup shooting stages to allow the end user to be able to put their training to the test and see how they will perform in certain scenarios... hmmm sounds familiar. Now that is not the main reason behind the creation of these competitions but most local USPSA matches cost 25-45 dollars. If you think that's too much you should probably also stop buying shitty Starbucks or whatever other fast food you are eating.
What training am I putting to the test? This is a loaded question and could go on forever, but for the sake of keeping you guys attention I will just list a few here:
- Reloads: bringing the gun further down than I usually reload, canting the pistol slightly more so I can see the magwell better, things like this.
- Moving In/Out of positions: Am I exploding to and from positions, Am I standing too upright in my shooting position, thus resulting in me having to drop low to explode out of that position (wasting time)
- My Grip: Is my first round where I want it then my second round is insanely low (forcibly driving my gun past my aiming point), are my rounds going high (tracking the dot instead of the target or maybe my grip sucks and I can't manage the recoil)
These aren't even a scratch of the depths of what we could get into here. But, realistically there is no other place short of an actual officer involved shooting (OIS), where you can put yourself in a similar stimulus scenario and get data driven results. Which leads us into the final topic, performance on demand.
Performance On Demand
Performance on demand, your own 4th quarter two minute drill; your own bottom of the ninth down one run, with one on and two outs; your very own heart beating outside your body situation... how will you perform? Will you seize the opportunity or will you crumble because you've failed to prepare.
Performance on demand is like the tip of the iceberg, where the tip is all you see (that's what she said) but deep under the ocean is the underlying reasons for the failure or success. Competition will help test this for you because there is nothing like performing by yourself, in front of your peers or strangers and trying to succeed. The stimulus of your heart pounding, sweaty hands, and auditory exclusion is real and in our world, there is nothing that can mimic real world situations quiet like competitions (unless you're Instructor Zero).
The question you should be asking yourself or the red hats is, if you had the opportunity to test yourself in something that mimics real world situations, allowing yourself to grow from these, why wouldn't you?

https://www.instagram.com/mr_bandanaman/
Helpful Links To Learn More About Competitions
How to find local competitions: https://practiscore.com/search/matches
Different types of competitions:
These all vary from just pistol, to pistol and rifle, to fitness and shooting. I encourage you to explore all different competitions and see what you enjoy most or what exposes you to your deficiencies.
USPSA - https://uspsa.org
IDPA - https://www.idpa.com
PCSL - https://www.pcsleague.us
Tactical Games - https://thetacticalgames.com
Where To Find Us
If you've made it this far and you like what you've read, please give it a share. We appreciate you and hope you guys stay hungry and stay motivated. Keep grinding, the tide is slowly turning!
1 comment
Fucking great blog post!