Hey folks welcome back to Scatter-gun scuttlebutt. It’s been busy the first part of the year and I have been on the road teaching and back home keeping the citizens of Palm Beach County safe and delivering training at the Department. I recently returned from the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association (ILEETA) (www.ileeta.org) 2024 conference in St. Louis MO.
I have been attending the conference for several years as a presenter for my agency and IALEFI. If you have not attend an ILEETA conference I can highly recommend attending, if you want to see what the current trends in Law Enforcement training are and what is new in the products area. Hopefully I saw some of you during the conference.
This year, like the last couple of years, IALEFI (www.ialefi.com) was represented during the Vendor Expo which runs from Tuesday through Wednesday during the conference. IALEFI had a booth in the vendor area where we exchanged information regarding technology and training techniques.
Along with working at the booth I also presented a live fire range course during the conference. The course was designed to brush up on the manipulation of both the pump-action and semi-automatic shotguns. It was nice to see so many firearms instructors and operators turn out to improve their skills with the shotgun. Before we started shooting, I asked the students if their agency had a strong shotgun program and most indicated that it was adequate, but the biggest complaint was it hurt to shoot the shotgun. I made them a promise that at the end of the class if they followed the principles, I gave them at the end of their 200 rounds they would not hurt. The students ran drills the worked on tactical loading, emergency loading, transitioning to handgun and selecting different rounds for application.
I am happy to say that at the end of the class no one complained of hurting (one student confided that up until he did not follow the principles he was not hurting, but a lapse in focus and high brass slugs got his attention). Hopefully I was able to provide information that will assist them in their agency’s shotgun programs.
I was thankful that both ILEETA and IALEFI gave me the opportunity to help build the love of the Police Shotgun. If you are interested in shotgun training contact the Training Coordinator for IALEFI to host classes or check out the website to find a course near you. https://www.ialefi.com/training-course-calendar/annual-training-conference/
Don’t forget the IALEFI Annual Training Conference will be September 15th– 20th, 2024 in West Palm Beach, Florida hosted by the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office. https://www.ialefi.com/training-course-calendar/annual-training-conference/
Until next time remember: Learn, Teach Repeat
Mike Johnson (Shotgun Master Instructor)
IALEFI Board of Directors
michaeljohnson@ialefi.com
