The $500,000 shooting range on wheels will soon be seen around the Capital City.
The Austin Police Department secured a state grant to support the Laser Shot Mobile Range, a virtual target system that helps train officers with real-life scenarios.
"This is not about learning about how to shoot," Police Chief Art Acevedo said. "This is about learning how to survive and how to save lives and most importantly about learning how to use force in an appropriate, constitutionally sound manner."
Using their actual pistols, officers fire real bullets at a screen displaying what police call a critical incident, with moving targets."This is about as real world as it gets," Acevedo said. "What this gives us the opportunity to do is the ability to gauge our officers' critical thinking. Are they shooting when they're supposed to, are they not shooting when they aren't supposed to?"
The state of Texas is paying for the $500,000 shooting range on wheels.
"What's the return on investment here? Well I would submit that the return here is about saving lives," Austin City Manager Marc Ott said. "It can make the difference between life and death. That's the kind of decision that these folks make; the folks that are out on the street protecting us every day."
When asked if the program is a luxury item, given APD's budget cruch, Ott said it is not.
"I don't think this is a luxury at all," he said. "I think this is an important addition to training our officers."
The president of the Austin police union agrees.
"It just makes sence to have that training available on a periodic basis to each substation so each officer can train when they come into work," Sgt. Wayne Vincent said.
APD said this new training tool would allow them to frequently train their officers. Currently they only train officers once a year using service weapons.
Austin will become the first city in the Lone Star state to have the mobile shooting range as part of its training arsenal.
The training scenerios can also be filmed and structured to suit the Austin area.
