Ohio County deputies received training this week in “Shoot, Don’t Shoot” circumstances.
The Ohio County Sheriff’s Office said that during the training sessions, deputies were presented with ‘Shoot, Don’t Shoot’ scenarios arising from domestic situations, traffic stops and other citizen interactions.
“These scenarios focus on de-escalation techniques and are used for the continuing education for the deputies so that they may better protect the citizens of Ohio County and any visitors,” the sheriff’s office said in a social media post.
Shoot/no-shoot drills train personnel to make threat assessments under time pressure. Unlike standard marksmanship training that focuses on accuracy alone, these exercises add a cognitive layer. (Participants) must evaluate each target, determine if it poses a threat, and act accordingly.
Research shows that decision-making performance improves when training incorporates realistic visual cues and situational complexity. Officers who trained with tactical gaze control and visual attention strategies made 34% more correct shoot decisions compared to those who received traditional speed-and-accuracy training. The key difference was learning where to look and what to prioritize, not just how fast to shoot. (PubMed, Shoot or Don’t Shoot).
Studies of law enforcement shootings found that 14% involved “perception shootings” where officers mistook harmless objects for weapons. Proper training with shoot/no-shoot targets directly addresses this problem by conditioning operators to check their initial responses and verify threats before firing.
(Photo: Ohio Co. deputies undergoing “Shoot, Don’t Shoot” training, courtesy of the Ohio Co. Sheriff’s Office)
