Tag: Rangemaster of the Quarter

Rangemaster of the Quarter – Nicholas Roberts

Posted on by Action Target

We were astonished at the number of submissions we received for our Rangemaster of the Quarter award. After careful consideration, Action Target is pleased to announce that Nicholas Roberts of the Unified Police Department of Greater Salt Lake, UT has been selected as Action Target’s National Rangemaster of the Quarter for Q2-2011.

The National Rangemaster of the Quarter program obtains feedback about individuals worthy of consideration from the Action Target staff, but most importantly, from other Rangemasters. These peers have a deep knowledge of the individuals being considered and play a significant role in Action Target’s selection process.

Rangemaster Roberts has been an active member of law enforcement for over 32 years and currently serves as Rangemaster for the Office of the Sheriff of Salt Lake County and the Unified Police Department of Greater Salt Lake, UT. He oversees all firearms-related training for the following organizations:

  • Unified Police
  • Protective Services Officers of Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office
  • All the weapons-certified Corrections Officers for the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office

He has also provided instruction to the following:

  • 3rd District Court Judges and Juvenile Court Judges
  • Salt Lake County Fire Department
  • Salt Lake City Division of the F.B.I.
  • Union Pacific Railroad Police
  • Salt Lake City Airport Authority Police
  • 625th Military Police Company of the Utah National Guard
  • West Valley City Police SWAT team
  • U.S. Army Special Forces
  • Weber County Sheriff’s Office
  • U.S. Coast Guard Unit small arms training program.
  • Firearm instructors and armorers for other outside law enforcement agencies

Captain Kendra L. Herlin of the Unified Police Department and the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office stated, “Rangemaster Roberts is a very proud member of the Unified Police Department and the office of the Sheriff of Salt Lake County. He represents the departments well and is a fine example of a member who has dedicated his career to public service. His passion for safety and exceptional ability for all those who train under his direction is unmatched anywhere.”

Rangemaster Roberts began his service in this field as an armorer and firearms instructor in 1978 for the Riverton City Police Department. In 1989 he was transferred to the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office Firearms unit. In 1990 through 1993 Roberts was promoted to Corporal of the Firearms Unit and served as the Firearms Unit Supervisor from 1993 to 1996. He has served as the director of the Firearms Unit and Rangemaster since September of 1996. He graduated from Session 192 of the F.B.I. National Academy in March of 1998 and is a Master Instructor for Colt LLC, Sig Sauer, Pepper Ball Tec., and Security Equipment Corp. (Sabre). As such, he protects officers throughout the country by teaching all over the United States to increase the knowledge of armorers and instructors. Roberts is also a certified NRA Instructor and was invited to Israel where he trained with I.M.I. and Sturm Ruger to develop a new police carbine.

Rangemaster Roberts also serves on the National Institute of Justice TWG regarding body armor. He was selected to sit on this board when the failure of soft body armor occurred in 2002. Rangemaster Roberts was influential in the new standards for the NIJ 06 Body armor standard throughout the law enforcement community.

Rangemaster Roberts has benefited the Office, community and surrounding states by designing and building the first environmentally safe firearms range in Utah, and has been invited to teach at both the state and federal levels. He is responsible for donations of land and continued construction of new range facilities in Salt Lake County. Furthermore, he instituted new non-lethal weapons systems for the 2002 Winter Olympics that were later used in patrol functions.

Rangemaster Roberts has been recognized for his service and training by many citizen groups. Some of these groups and individuals include U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch, the Utah Law Enforcement Olympics, the Salt Lake City YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter, the Murray City Civil Service Commission, the Salt Lake City Downtown Alliance Board, and the Salt Lake Community Advisory Board.

Responsible for instituting training that exceeds the required legal standards of POST, Rangemaster Roberts also directs all personalized training not only on firearms, but other weapons as well. Recently, Rangemaster Roberts supervised the implementation of the training of additional firearms instructors to increase the number of instructors to trainee ratio.

With Rangemaster Robert’s extensive experience and training, he is commonly called upon as an expert witness in numerous firearms, OC, and Taser incidents involving police agencies. He has testified in front of city, county, state and federal courts. He is also considered an expert in these areas for development of new and better firearms and related products to increase the safety of officers in the field.

With such an impressive career, we want to congratulate Nicholas J. Roberts for being selected as the Q2-2011 Action Target National Rangemaster of the Quarter!

About the Rangemaster of the Quarter Program: Prior to launching this award program, Action Target spoke with many industry professionals to help establish aspects a nominee must have to qualify. Each nominee should have at least several of the following:

  • Lifetime of service/years of Service
  • Contributions to their department’s firearms training
  • Contributions to their region, state, and industry in firearms training
  • Changes to POST requirements
  • New/innovative training standards
  • New/innovative tactics
  • Expert witness testimony
  • Subject Matter Expert for firearms and/or training
  • Active resource for feedback on training, tactics, equipment, and standards
  • Partner to develop/modify equipment to enhance training effectiveness

This recognition program is not exclusive to law enforcement or Action Target customers. It is for Rangemasters of U.S. Military and Law Enforcement organizations in the U.S. Those selected for the award receive recognition in the Action Target weekly newsletter, the Action Target website, and travel to the Action Target main office to receive a personalized award.

If you would like to nominate a peer, first provide some preliminary information located at the Action Target Program Page. Second, send a letter written on your organization’s letterhead via email to Action Target’s National Rangemaster of the Quarter detailing your nomination’s qualifications and accomplishments. We look forward to getting more nominations for Quarter 3.

Rangemaster: Behind the Scenes in Firearms Training

Posted on by Action Target

Those of us who have either worked in law enforcement or closely with public safety personnel know there are many other positions that support a first responder.  Courts have bailiffs, the jails and prisons have correctional deputies/officers, all of which are sometimes the “forgotten cops” since they are not always in the public’s view.  There are a host of supporting positions as well.  Some of these are detectives, gang, drug, multi-jurisdictional task forces, air units and SWAT.  Action Target recognizes and respects public safety personnel at all levels, whether in a highly visible position or not.

One of the segments of public safety that is vital to a first responder’s success is training.  When a peace officer is on or off duty, they are usually carrying a firearm.  Therefore, firearms training is paramount to their surviving a critical incident.  The training program designed for most agency is specific to the threats they encounter.  These programs are developed within the state Police Officer Standards and Training (POST) requirements, but are still unique to the agency.  Most of the time, the coursework is established by the Rangemaster.

What is a Rangemaster?  What do they do?  If you are Orlando Police Departments Rangemaster, your work never ends.  You are responsible for  training and qualifying 750 officers with handguns, shotguns, and rifles, specialized weapons training, less lethal weapons, as well as maintenance, repair and armorer inspection of over  1800 weapons. You are responsible for all daily and long term operations of one of the largest indoor gun ranges in the country, coordinating training with local, state, federal and military organizations, and the list goes on and on.  The ultimate goal with this title though, is to help prepare officers with the skills they need, to survive the challenges they face in today’s world.

Eric Clapsaddle is Action Targets “Rangemaster of the Quarter” because he does just that.  The efforts made by him, and ultimate results of those efforts,  have far exceeded national averages in a positive way.  He has gone above and beyond, and continues to constantly re-evaluate and improve.  Who benefits…..the Citizens of Orlando and the Officers who serve that community.

Why is his Training so good?

Because he prepares his officers for “REAL WORLD” situations.  The National averages show that about 90% of police gun fights occur at night.  Therefore, Orlando does about 90% of their training in “low light to no light” conditions.   Why…..because it is what they will face.

This training includes “Multiple Adversaries” because again, in the real world, 67% of all gun fights have 2 or more bad guys.

Additionally, officers training and qualifications include live fire combined with decision making under significant stress. This helps prepare them for real life shoot/ no shoot incidents. Is that a cell phone or a gun?  Remember, the time to make these decisions is about 1/4 of a second. Realistic training helps prepare them too make the right decision.

The scenario’s used are replica’s of real life situations re-created.  They include moving adversaries, because the bad guys don’t just stand still.  Innocent bystanders get in the way, and have to be worked into the scenario’s as well.  You have to work and look for cover, and the scenario’s include these props as well.

Eric, who has an Engineering degree,  designed several unique features in the equipment used at the facility that help make the training more real, and better fit the training needs of today’s officers.

The training that is done becomes very real and recreates the stress felt in a real gunfight.  It thereby prepares the officers so they can deal with adrenaline dumps, tunnel vision, and hearing issues, to better defend themselves and the public they serve.

The bottom line to all of this is…..Officers return home at the end of their shift, and the Public is better protected from criminals.

The Ultimate compliment a Rangemaster can receive is when his training efforts have paid off…..and an officer knows it, saving his life or the life of a citizen.  The results of Eric and his staff, will never know the unspoken “thank-you’s” for those they have saved.

At the recent Chiefs of Police convention held in Orlando, many Top Notch Trainers were able to see first hand some of the techniques and scenarios used by the Orlando Training Department on their Tactical range.  Now, months later, I am still getting phone calls about how fantastic that was.

Agencies from not only the United States were blown away, but representative’s from Taiwan, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Brazil, New Zealand, England, Spain, and the list continues, were impressed as well.  They were impressed with the Facility, but more importantly, how the facility was used with real world scenario’s.  This was where the rubber met the road, and this is where we have seen no finer training anywhere.

An example of the results are this…..

The National average for misses in gunfights (at a distance of about 9 yards or less) is approximately 80% based upon statistics from the FBI’s study on gunfights.  For the Orlando Police Department, their hit percentage is around 86%.  This is a result of the efforts of Eric and his staff.  What a fantastic job!  Our hats are off to him and that is why we recognize “Eric Clapsaddle” from the Orlando Police Department as Action Targets ” Rangemaster of the Quarter.”