Painful projectile practice

Bella Vista’s Police Department wrapped up the third and final week of annual training Friday with pops and bangs.

Sgt. Eric Palmer handles instruction for the department’s less-lethal ammunition, which he has to recertify to teach every two years.

The munitions, which loads into a standard 12-gauge shotgun, is designed to be far less likely to kill someone, he said. The department carries three types of loads — each to be used at different ranges. One round is designed to incapacitate within two to eight yards, he said, another between seven and 20 yards, and the third between 20 and 50 yards.

The intermediate option, he said, is the department’s go-to.

“If I’m at three yards,” he said, “I probably ought to be (using a Taser on) you.”

While the ammunition is expensive, he said, coming in around $7 per shell, the department isn’t simply wasting ammo by practicing.

The shells have a shelf life, he said, of about five years. Kept in a squad car, where they are exposed to heat and cold, they’re only good for about a year, he said, after which they’re changed out with fresh rounds. The old ones are used for practice.

“I’ve issued it,” he said, “we’ve carried it in the field, we’ve fired it for training and then we dispose of it.”

These rounds, he said, are loaded exclusively into the department’s six dedicated less-lethal guns, which are marked with red tape and kept in the trunks of squad cars.

This is important, he said, to ensure there’s no question about what ammunition is in the firearm.

Keith Bryant/The Weekly Vista Officer Blake Hughes, left, stands ready with a firearm to provide lethal force, if necessary, while officer Janice Wilson fires a less-lethal round through one of the department's less-lethal designated shotguns.

Keith Bryant/The Weekly Vista Officer Janice Wilson holds all three of the department's less-lethal rounds, each of which is designed to work at a different distance.