This study investigated the influence of grip strength on semi-automatic handguns in basic law enforcement training. The grip strength and marksmanship scores of police recruits were measured. All the recruits underwent the same basic firearms training and about half the recruits were given a Grip Master to exercise with in the hope of improving their grip strength. The grip strength improvement was similar for recruits with and without Grip Master. Both groups significantly improved their marksmanship by the end of the training (97.46 to 113.48 for the Grip Master group, and 92.68 to 112.24 for the control group). The women's scores were significantly lower than the men's both at the beginning and at the end of the training (102.6 vs. 114.6 for females and males, respectively at the end of the training). This difference in scores appears to be due to a difference in grip strength. The influence of grip strength on marksmanship scores was small but constant throughout the grip strength range of the police recruits.
The Police Training Institute at the University of Illinois designed a fitness training programme which allowed the participants to choose the intensity and mode of their exercise. Between June 1993 and March 1995, the incoming recruits’ fitness level was assessed before and after the training programme in order to measure the improvement induced by the training and to compare the recruits’ fitness level to the general population. The recruits significantly improved their flexibility (19.10 vs 15.13 degrees) and abdominal strength (4.91 vs 4.98 Lovett score). The male recruits improved their aerobic capacity (recovery heart rate: 86.27 vs 81.32 bpm) and the female recruits improved their back strength (4.86 vs 4.97 Lovett score). No significant changes were observed for grip strength (54.62 vs 54.21 kg), relative body fat (19.5 vs 18.5 per cent body fat), blood pressure (diastolic: 77.99 vs 77.52 mm Hg; systolic: 125.47 vs 125.10 mm Hg), and resting heart rate (74.89 vs 74.23 bpm). Compared to population norms, the majority of the recruits were within the normal range for blood pressure, resting heart rate, abdominal and back muscle strength. A large proportion of the recruits had good flexibility, average grip strength, and fair to excellent per cent body fat. Still, 33.4 per cent of the males and 25 per cent of the females were low to very low in aerobic capacity. As a result, the fitness programme has been modified in order to further improve recruits’ fitness.
If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation.Abstract The shooting scores of police recruits with night sights and without night sights were compared in four different lighting conditions: front-lighted target, back-lighted target, with a flashlight, and intermittent lights. The shooting scores of the recruits with night sights were significantly higher for the four conditions. Night sights improved the scores of both skilled and less skilled shooters. Shooting with a flashlight significantly decreased the accuracy, regardless of the type of flashlight.The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
In order to evaluate the marksmanship skills and gun handling skills that could be learned through the basic law enforcement firearms course, the skills of 216 inexperienced shooters (185 men and 31 women) were measured before and after the basic law enforcement firearms course. The marksmanship test consisted in shooting 14 rounds from a distance of 15 yards. The gun handling test consisted in loading the handgun, unloading the handgun, and clearing a type 3 malfunction. The marksmanship scores significantly improved after the firearms course (from 43.46 to 106.86 points) but the women's scores were significantly lower than the men's scores both before and after the course. Recruits significantly reduced the time needed to load the weapon (from 27.17 to 9.12 seconds), to unload the weapon (from 15.48 to 3.84 seconds), and to clear the malfunction (from 30.13 to 11.05 seconds) but women took more time than men to clear the malfunction. The content of the basic firearms course is presented, the validity of law enforcement firearms training is discussed, and recommendations are made in order to improve training.
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