from unusual shooting positions; making tactical decisions of how to move through a course; using cover and working around visual barriers; being responsible for ammunition management; assessing hits; and balancing the paramount need for accuracy with speed. TPC is different in many ways from other combat or tactical competitions. Some notable differences include: • TPC is only for law enforcement officers, members of the U.S. Military and private sector law enforcement officers. • Firearms, holsters and other equipment must be “patrol duty gear.” • Courses of fire are designed as either Skill-Based Courses or Scenario-Based Courses. • Skill-Based Courses challenge the officer’s skills and abilities in handling, ac- curacy and overall proficiency with a given firearm system under set condi- tions. • Scenario Based Courses place the officer in a hypothetical law enforcement encounter. The officer must then decide how to run the course and solve the challenges presented according to their own tactics and skills. NRA Law Enforcement Instructor Development Schools teach “Bring the street to the range.” TPC is designed with a similar philosophy, and where possible, we attempt to have officers face the same challenges. For instance, in TPC there are no separate categories for high capacity handguns and single stack handguns, or different scoring systems for different calibers. This is because suspects on the street do not know, care or act differently because of any of these factors. If an officer carries a handgun with a capacity of only eight rounds, he or she should be very proficient in ammunition management and Tactical and Speed Reloads. TPC has no equalizing formulas for calibers and does not modify courses to make them “friendly” to specific firearm types. What an officer carries on the street should be what he uses in TPC courses. NRA Tactical Police competition target
An exception to our street reality preference is the use of multiple sets of threat targets. Most law enforcement firearm related street encounters involve one or two lethal threat adversaries. If TPC matches strictly followed this statistic, officers would fire only 10 to 20 rounds during an entire day’s match. While realistic in threat numbers, this is not a very efficient use of the officer’s time and fails to maximize range time for practice and training. As such, in Scenario Based Courses officers will find multiple engagement decisions and sets of threat targets to provide additional opportunities for officers to practice and evaluate their skills.
For More Information
Contact the NRA Law Enforcement Activities Division by mail, phone, or e-mail:
NRA Law Enforcement Activities Division 11250 Waples Mill Road Fairfax, Virginia 22030
mail:
phone: (703) 267-1632
e-mail: lead@nrahq.org
Or find NRA Law Enforcement on the web at:
http://www.nrahq.org/law
The NRA National Police Shooting Championships are held in Albuquerque, NM every year
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Chapter 4
Tournament Operations Guide