Polite Society 2007


The 2007 "Polite Society" Tactical Conference was held Feb 24-25, 2007 at the Memphis Police Academy in Memphis, Tennessee. This event, organized by Tom Givens of Rangemaster, is similar to law enforcement training conferences, but this event is open to private sector trainers and students as well as law enforcement and military personnel. It includes a live fire shooting competition and multiple training seminars on a variety of topics related to personal defense. In previous years the event was held at the Rangemaster facility, but the size of the event has continued to grow. The Memphis Police Department hosted the event this year, which deserves special recognition. Typically police departments are opposed (or at best, are neutral) to the idea of private citizens carrying guns and training. For this event Memphis PD trainers were involved with every aspect of the event, including participating in the live fire match, force on force scenarios and seminars. Out of 91 competitors, more than 20 were law enforcement and several of the law enforcement officers finished high in the overall results.

Trainers from multiple schools were represented: Karl and Justin represented KR Training. Other schools and trainers included Shivworks, InSights Training, Tactical Response, Rangemaster, US Shooting Academy, Personal Defense Training, Strike Tactical, and Suarez International, as well as Skip Gochenour (NTI), Will Andrews, William April, Steve Moses and John Farnam. Vendors represented included Crimson Trace, Airsoft Atlanta, Tactical Response, XS Sights, DVC Targets and others. Training seminars covered a wide variety of topics: gunfight analyis, rifle skills, unarmed skills, handgun disarm skills, psychology, trauma first aid, and pistol skills. Many of the seminars were "hands on", not just lecture.

The live fire stages were split between the outdoor range and indoor range. All stages were "surprise" courses where the shooters could not look at the stages in advance. The indoor stages were shot in low light. It was "shoot what you carry" without the limits of IPSC or IDPA rules: backup guns OK, highcap mags OK. Lasers and weapon mounted lights OK as long as they were off when the gun was holstered and the eqiupment was concealed in a way that was practical for real world use. Targets were 3D reactive targets built by DVC Targets. These targets have small steel hit zones that must be hit to knock the target down, as shown in one of the photos below.. Plastic 3D fronts, clothes and other props were used to make the targets as realistic-looking as possible.

The photos below show some of the action, mostly the force on force scenarios that we ran in one of the Memphis PD frangible ranges. I included a few pictures of MPD facilities and a DVC target. To see a larger view of any of the pictures, click on them.