Cops-4-Kids Match: Oct 1

[Dan Hurley]

The Police Officers Safety Association (POSA) will be conducting their second Cops-4-Kids Match at the Harvard Sportsmen’s Club on October 1. Please check out their website at,
http://posacops4kids.com/

This match is unlike any other type of pistol match with a very strong focus on practical/tactical environments using practical equipment. The website emphasizes the law-enforcement aspects of this match, but anyone with an interest in the practical application of various tools is encouraged to attend and will feel more than welcome.

This match is also a fund raising event for the Jimmy Fund in memory of Isabella de Bethencourt, the daughter of well-known tactical instructor Michael de Bethencourt. For this reason, the prize list is very impressive and there is also a boat-load of stuff that will be available for side matches, raffles, and auction.

The match is different from the usual match in several ways. First, the targets are full-size photographs of real-world subjects in various positions. The subjects may be holding a lethal weapon, or they may be holding a soda can or cell phone. The competitor must identify threat targets and engage them with at least two disabling rounds plus at least one additional round in any location in order to score one point. If the competitor engages a non-threat target, points are subtracted.

The courses are run blind, which is to say that the ranges are curtained and the competitor cannot see the course until the beep. Competitors are directed not to provide information to any competitor who has not yet run a particular course.

Each course also includes a tactical/practical challenge in addition to the shooting challenge. If the competitor successfully completes the challenge, then well done. If the competitor does not successfully complete the challenge, then the competitor receives a penalty and usually learns a valuable lesson. As an example, last year’s match included a stage where the competitor must rescue a subject from a burning vehicle while hostile threats surround the vicinity. When encountering the rescue subject, the competitor discovered that the subject’s seat restraint could not be unfastened. If the competitor didn’t go to his knife within seconds, a penalty was applied and the lesson was learned.

In another stage, the competitor came across an empty pistol and magazine on the ground. The competitor was required to insert the magazine and rack a round into the chamber, while following all normal range safety rules, … while using the strong hand only.

This was a great match last year and it is for a very good cause. They can definitely use your support. If you went last year, please make sure your buddies know about it and try to attend.

 

[TY43215]

This was a great match last year and it is for a very good cause. They can definitely use your support. If you went last year, please make sure your buddies know about it and try to attend.

This Was a great match last year and I was a fan. Unfortunately, they got greedy and priced themselves above what many people will pay for a match of this type.

They ignored offers from very willing and qualified sponsors and ignored offers of help from qualified instructors and experienced range officers.

Sorry Dan, you won't see your squad mates from last year there.



Regards,

 

[Dan Hurley]

I don't have any knowledge about the sponsorship and help issues, but I do agree that $100 is a BIG jump over last year's match fee. At least the fee is tax deductible (if you can remember that when next April comes).

 

[GTOShootr]

I'm there! I heard it was a great match but I was going to skip it since it is right before the Open Nats, but one look at that web page sold me.

 

[TY43215]

I'm there! I heard it was a great match but I was going to skip it since it is right before the Open Nats, but one look at that web page sold me.

I am sure you will have fun. I'll be shooting steel in NH Or maybe that is the day before

 

[38supermatt]

This Was a great match last year and I was a fan. Unfortunately, they got greedy and priced themselves above what many people will pay for a match of this type.

well, is it greedy? I wasn't there last year, so I dont know what kind of round count the match had, but I only heard good things from the people who went, both about the unusual style of the match, and the amount of prizes.
So, is it greedy or is it inline with say, the Area 7, which I believe cost more than this does, and pretty much offered not a whole lot in the way of prizes?

I dont know what it's costing to administer the match, but that's a consideration, then they probably have to buy some prizes, I doubt they are all 100% donated. Then, you still need something left over for the cause, which happens to be the cancer kids.

When you really break it down, and compare it to other shoots around here, like:
the Aware, which has a decent amount of prizes, costs more, and distributes them largely by chance, and you've got a 5ish hour drive and need a hotel

The Little Big Match, Cortland County NY, $75 entry fee, and no prizes, but some kind of cash payback in class for class winners, plus the cost of getting there and the ridiculous hotel prices this year of around $180/night

Most local matches in this section which cost $20 and you get nothing at all for winning

Compare those to this Cops for Kids Match- $100 it's local, you don't need a hotel, and judging from those I know who shot last year, you stand to win something decent if you place well.

I think I'll go with Steve and try to win something that costs more than my $100 entry fee.

Not because I want to help the Cancer Babies, that's just a nice side effect to participation, but because I'M GREEDY.

The price to participate may drive some competitors away, and that may be great, because they may raise the same amount, or even more than last year, and have less people to distribute the same amount, or maybe even more prizes too. Or who knows, they may have barely any prizes, in which case, I'll come back here, and post, I was wrong, they were greedy, but I donated to the Jimmy Fund, and hopefully, the cancer research they support will lead to advancements in treatment and detection that can be used to help me in another 15 or so years.

 

[TY43215]

well, is it greedy? I wasn't there last year, so I dont know what kind of round count the match had, but I only heard good things from the people who went, both about the unusual style of the match, and the amount of prizes.

Although you have some misinformation, I decided to delete my resposne so as not to turn this into a pissing contest. Having worked at and shot the match, I have my opinions.

Good luck at the match.

 

[Green_Manelishi]

COPS-4-Kids match

I was not there last year so I have no comparison for this year. I am planning to be there this year.

 

[ralphmroz]

Let me correct some mis-conceptions

Gents - I have no idea who Round Gun Shooter is (except that his pen name displays good taste), but let me correct a couple mis-conceptions.

1) We raised the fee to $100 because the purpose of the match IS TO RAISE MONEY FOR PEDIATRIC CANCER RESEARCH. It's a charity event! We make not a penny on the match, all prizes are donated, and the expenses are constrained to the port-a-potties (this year) and a few construction items like plastic sheeting. (Last year I think the expenses amounted to less than $70) Last year we had to turn shooters away when the fee was a paltry $30. Further, we had hoped that the $100 fee would be raised by each shooter by him/her gathering sponsors, like you would for a charity walk--we included sponsor sign-up forms on the match site, even. There are also prizes for the shooter who riases the most sponsorship money. What would you have done in our shoes? Our object is to raise charity money, we oversold the event last year, so raising the fee was common sense. We don't know what the sweet spot is fee-wise , but we tried $100 this year. It may come down next year, depending on results. I take offense at someone calling me greedy; I knew the little girl who died of cancer that this match is in memory of.

2) We turned away no prizes or sponsors last year.

3) I don't remember if we said "no thanks" to any offer of help or ROs last year, but I do know we had plenty of help well in advance, so we may have not needed it from someone who offered after that.

Anyone with a question or gripe is invited to email me directly at [email protected].

Ralph Mroz

 

[Admin]

1) We raised the fee to $100 because the purpose of the match IS TO RAISE MONEY FOR PEDIATRIC CANCER RESEARCH. It's a charity event!

+1

Every charity event I've been to has been over priced. That's the whole purpose.

It's a great charity and a great thing they are doing of the kids...

 

[K-DUB]

Since the event is getting closer, who else will be going?

 

[Cross-X]

I'll be there, as will Jon Green and two of our friends. I shot it last year and it was a heck of a lot of fun!

 

[Dan Hurley]

I think it'll be a blast. The match isn't restricted to any particular rules, so once you take off the USPSA handcuffs, some unusual things begin to take shape.

 

[Cross-X]

Word to the wise: Last year it was real helpful to have a folding knife handy when shooting the match.

I didn't have mine, so I was unable to successfully complete one of the stages. (sob)

 

[K-DUB]

Tsk, tsk......one should always have at least 2 or 3 folding knives on him/herself.

 

[GTOShootr]

I had a great time at today's match. It was really nice to try something completely different. The blind stages worked great, the people were all nice, and a lot of the non-shooting stuff left an impression that will have me thinking for a while. I even won a nice knife and a $100 Safariland gift certificate in the raffle.

Everyone should look out for the next Cops-4-Kids event and try it out. It is a great cause, Michael de Bethencourt is a really nice guy, and the shooting was just plain fun and educational.

Thanks to the Harvard guys as usual.

 

[K-DUB]

Had a great time today, despite the rain. All the guys who came through Stage 2 where very nice, & seemed to be having fun. Thanks again!

-Anastasia

 

[38supermatt]

I agree with Steve, cops for kids was a lot of fun
For the people who didn't go, you missed:
Rain-which i think you'd have gotten anywhere you went today
and challenging shooting because you didnt know what target you were supposed to shoot until you go through the black plastic barricades, and even then, you couldn't always make out if the bad guys had guns or not through the plastic bags covering them because of the rain, or the tape which may have been in the area of the weapon, badge, beer bottle, or cell phone the person may have been holding. It was a cool change from what we usually shoot in that we had to make decisions other than how to shoot it, it was also, what to shoot.
Although I do disagree with the what I feel is an arbitrary decision on the "tactical " lesson, as I believe there are more than one solution to problems presented. The scenario I disagree with the answer was- you were responding to a call about a home invasion with someone injured, you needed to clear the house and find the injured person and render aid or something. When i found the person, I thought I should apply pressure to the stab wound, not call 911 for help.
As it turns out, calling 911 was supposed to be the right answer, which seemed redundant to me at that point.
If I was supposed to be the policeman responding to a call of a home invasion with injuries from the attack, wouldn't rescue also have been dispatched? Why would I call 911 again? I believed rescue was on it's way, why call them again? So I got penalized for that.
But it's all good, it was a fun match. I liked the 3 on each target approach, and there was a very cool mover that came at us before you even drew your gun while you were to be talking to a woman who was supposed to be reporting a domestic. You were to walk into the house, respond to the woman, and then things start going wrong with all sorts of moving, flipping up, and dissapearing bad guys.
Very cool.
And I got to use my rusty gun, which means I dont care that my gun got rained on all day, because it's already covered in rust.
I'm working on that nice rust finish.

 

[JonJ]

Sounds like it was a fun course.
After clearing the building, you render first aid and advise EMS that it's safe for them to enter. EMS stages away from the scene and waits for the all clear.

 

[ralphmroz]

Thanks to all

Michael and Heather deBethencourt, Dave Kenik and I want to thank everyone who shot, and everyone who volunteered. There's no nicer, more generous, bunch of people than shooters, for sure! Special thanks go to Greg, Frank, Don, Bob and Dan, the stage managers who designed, set up and ran the stages - it was several days out of their lives! Good men all!

It looks like we raised about $13K form the match - maybe a couple more. The Louder Than Words Raffle should bring in more than that (if you want to win a $12,000 custom gun/knife/holster package for a $10 chance, visit www.posacops4kids.com/raffle)

The plan for the future, from the perspective of the Police Officers Safety Association, is to turn this from a single yearly match into a nationwide program. We will (sometime in the next several months) establish and promote the POSA Cops4Kids program, which is a funnel and a brand for channeling donations to the Jimmy Fund. Any club, any agency, or any bunch of shooters can put on any kind of match, or any stage in a match, that they want to, run it however they want to, charge whatever they care to, and send the proceeds to the c4K program, which once or twice a year will forward the aggregated amount (including interest) to the Jimmy Fund. The benefit of channeling the funds through the c4k program is that the shooting community's funds are donated as a larger sum than otherwise would be the case. If the match promoters want to run their match or stage according to the c4k rules that have been in effect these last 2 years, we will have them posted on the website. The website itself will be transformed into a promotional vehicle and resource source for the program.

So thanks to all again, and if your club want to get involved as described above, great!

 

[Davidk]

As Ralph said; THANKS TO ALL!!!!!!

38supermatt,

Some of the stages had a tactical lesson. The directions for the stage you are talking about said that you needed to “get professional medical attention” for the injured party or words to that effect as I don’t remember it exactly.

The only way to “get professional medical attention” is to call for assistance. The lesson for that stage is that you should have a cell phone (or police radio) on you at all times.

 

[Cross-X]

Great match, great match, great match! (Can you tell I really liked it?)

I can only imagine how much work it all up must have taken to make this work as well as it did.

I sure hope taking this event nationwide makes hundreds of thousands for the Jimmy Fund.

Darius Arbabi

 

[38supermatt]

David- I'd hope one of the innocent people I didn't shoot in that house would run outside when the shooting started and call an ambulance, or the neighbors would call them after all the gun shot noise in the house.
I didn't know EMS waits outside for an all clear call. Good to learn, which was part of the match.
I thought it was fun and hope if it becomes a nationwide program, that we will have a match like it again locally next year.
and more importantly, I hope the researchers are all the more closer to curing cancer each time we donate to one of these.

 

[GTOShootr]

Despite letting that poor guy bleed to death, Matt won the match and got a cute purse in the raffle.

 

[jkelly]

Steve,
Where are the results posted?

Nice shooting Matt!

Respectfully,

jkelly

 

[GTOShootr]

I don't think they are posted. I just know Matt had the top scoring spot and got a Surefire. Considering the nature of the match, I don't think the scores were important at all.

I look forward to seeing how the new format of the program develops and the friendly competition can evolve into seeing who can raise the most amount of money for the cause.

 

[jkelly]

Considering the nature of the match, I don't think the scores were important at all.---GTOshooter

Scores are never very important to me, if they were I would practice. But still, I am interested in seeing the results.

Respectfully,

jkelly

 

[GTOShootr]

If it makes you feel better, I heard you won the mystery stage.

 

[jkelly]

That's a mystery to me!


Respectfully,

jkelly

 

[Davidk]

We raised over $15,500!!!!!

We raised over $15,500 to help children with cancer!!!!!!!!
Scores are posted at www.posacops4kids.com

Thanks so much to the donors, shooter, sponsors and volunteers!!!!!

Please continue to support this worth cause by purchasing a sweeptakes ticket for the Louder than Word Raffle.

The prize, donated by Louder than Words, is a custom pistol, holster, and knife valued at $12,000.

Yes, it will be legal to transfer into MA

The sweepstakes is available now through Dec. 29, 2006.

Enter at www.posacops4kids.com/raffle

Thanks again to everyone!!!!!!!!