Complaints change time for training

People are complaining about all the late-night shooting, and Watertown police, the shooters, are listening.

On several nights during April, city patrol officers have been called off their beats, one or two at a time, and ordered to report to the department's firing range on Huntington Island, off Eastern Boulevard in the town of Pamelia, for after-dark training. One night, the echo of gunfire filled the air past midnight. Neighbors were not happy, and they let it be known.

"We apologize for that," Chief Joseph J. Goss said Tuesday, announcing that from now on shooting practice will not extend beyond 10 p.m.

And it will not be an every-night situation, added Detective Ronald E. Gatch, the department's state-certified firearms instructor.

The special sessions recognize that the majority of police gunfire exchanges occur after sundown, or in dark places such as basements, Detective Gatch said. Consequently, more officers are killed or wounded in the dark.

"I was never really comfortable with shooting once a year out on the range," Chief Goss said. "We want more spontaneous training, get officers out of their cars and have realistic training in a different setting."

Detective Gatch referred to it as "a real world firing range," in which uniform and plain-clothes officers are not fully expecting to be dispatched from regular duty for shooting drills.

"We don't have an indoor range where we can just turn off the lights," he said. "It is unfortunate for residents out there, and we apologize for that, but this night training is for officer safety, and ultimately for public safety. We don't want to put the public at risk by having our officers unprepared."

The training is not only for hitting targets, but "how to manipulate a person into yielding before we have to use deadly force," the detective said.

Range hours will be 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., with most activity from 8 to 10 p.m., he said.

Chief Goss said he hopes that as tree foliage increases, the sound of gunfire will be less noticeable in the area.

He added that bringing officers off the road for an hour on the range is avoiding accumulation of overtime hours.