Officers receive extra training

By Linda Linonis

About 70 percent of the law-enforcement market goes with Glock handguns.

To shoot or not to shoot, that is the question police officers sometimes have to answer — and quickly.

To help them make that decision and to have their service sidearm perform well, a firearms instruction school took place recently at the Hubbard Police Department. Classes covered maintenance, troubleshooting and target practice along with the moral, ethical and legal responsibilities of using a firearm in the line of duty.

Retired Hubbard police officers Robert Paterniti and Robert Altiere arranged the event, which attracted 35 police officers from Ohio and Pennsylvania. The departments all use Glocks. This group attended the one-day, eight-hour Glock armorer’s training class that included safety rules, unloading and cleaning, field-stripping and reassembly and trouble shooting. To be certified, officers had to take and pass a test. A smaller group also practiced target shooting and received further instruction at the Hubbard police range for three days.

Joel Hodges, a Glock firearms-training instructor, conducted the sessions with support from Dave McCreary, a Glock district-manager who focuses on customer service.

“Glock firearms has about 70 percent of the law-enforcement market,” he said. “It’s well-made, reliable, durable, accurate and easy to train on,” Paterniti said. Hubbard police use Glock .40-caliber handguns.

Hodges said the instruction will help make officers “more self-sufficient” in that they learned the ins and outs of the gun, tearing it apart and putting it back together. This, in turn, they can take back to their respective departments and share their knowledge.

McCreary added that the company also offers a network of instructors who go into the field to support the product.

Hodges, a retired police captain from Jacksonville, Fla., and a former SWAT-team leader, said knowing the mechanics and function of the Glock is important, but their training also addresses “the mental aspect.”

“This mental aspect is being prepared to be able to take a life and understand the responsibility that goes with that,” Hodges said.

McCreary said police officers have “moral, ethical and legal responsibilities” when they’re under fire.

“Diagnosing shooting issues ... fixing shooting problems” is a goal of the training, Hodges said.

Sgt. Chris Moffitt, who has served on the Hubbard police force for 19 years, took the armorer’s class. “I’m aspiring to be a firearms trainer,” he said.

He said the training helped him remain “confident and competent” in his skills. “The Glock is user-friendly,” he said.

As a field training officer who rides with rookies for four to six weeks when he or she starts the job, he said this knowledge and training is something he will share with his fellow officers.

GLOCK CLASS

Who attended

A Glock firearms class took place recently at the Hubbard Police Department. In addition to officers from Hubbard, officers also attended from these departments:

Youngstown State University

Hubbard Township

Cleveland

Colebrook, Ohio

Warren

Valley City, Ohio

Ellwood City, Pa.

Gettysburg, Pa.

Sharon, Pa.

Source: Class organizers