DHS training with practice targets featuring children, and pregnant woman
The Washington Times Online Edition
DALLAS, February 28, 2013 — Minnesota-based Law Enforcement Targets, Inc (LET) has been awarded $5.5 million in contracts with the federal government, including $2 million with the Department of Homeland Security.
In light of this fact, it’s no wonder that the American people were outraged last week when it was uncovered that the firm had released a series of gun practice targets featuring a pregnant woman, a child, a young mother and grandparents.
This No More Hesitation series includes seven total targets, each subject armed: Pregnant Woman, seen in front of the backdrop of a nursery, Older Man 1, stands in his home, in front of a bookshelf and Older Man 2, Older Woman, is depicted in a bathrobe in her kitchen. The Young Mother, seen on a playground, is holding a toddler’s hand in one hand, gun in the other.
Then there is Young Girl standing in a driveway with a sack purse slung over her shoulder, and Little Brother, a very little person indeed, is depicted in a backyard with a privacy fence behind him. “Older man” stands in his home, in front of a bookshelf.
LET said that the targets were requested by law enforcement agencies and designed in order to “train police officers for unusually complex situations.”
A statement released to Reason’s Mike Riggs, states:
“The subjects in NMH targets were chosen in order to give officers the experience of dealing with deadly force shooting scenarios with subjects that are not the norm during training. I found while speaking with officers and trainers in the law enforcement community that there is a hesitation on the part of cops when deadly force is required on subjects with atypical age, frailty or condition (one officer explaining that he enlarged photos of his own kids to use as targets so that he would not be caught off guard with such a drastically new experience while on duty).
This hesitation time may be only seconds but that is not acceptable when officers are losing their lives in these same situations. The goal of NMH is to break that stereotype on the range, regardless of how slim the chances are of encountering a real life scenario that involves a child, pregnant woman, etc. If that initial hesitation time can be cut down due to range experience, the officer and community are better served.”
However, the American people didn’t seem to concur, and the ensuing outcry resulted in LET withdrawing the targets from circulation.
“We apologize for the offensive nature of our ‘No More Hesitation’ products,” they posted to their facebook page last week. “These products have been taken offline due to the opinions expressed by so many, including members of the law enforcement community.”
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