Fake hostage situations, jumping out of squad cars and taking aim at moving targets were all a part of Tuesday’s Patrol Rifle Shoot-Off organized by the Dallas SWAT team.
The top 40 shooters out of approximately 700 patrol rifle shooters competed for ‘Top Rifle’ recognition.
The competitive ‘trigger time’ should help police with real life scenarios, according to Sr. Cpl. Richard Emberlin of the Dallas Police Swat Training Facility.
Officers switched from using pistols to semi-automatic weapons to combat criminals in the field several years ago after being outgunned on the streets.
"A lot of our officers were being confronted with situations where suspects had shoulder fired rifles,” said Emberlin, who claimed a face-off between a 9mm pistol and a rifle isn’t a fair fight.
The competition happened at the Dallas Police Pistol Range on the 3200 block of Mountain Creek Parkway.
Even thought Dallas SWAT organized the event, SWAT member's weren't allowed to participate. Most likely the frequency with which they train with rifles would have given them an unfair advantage over street cops.
