Over One-Quarter of Police Officers Failed to Pass Firearms Tests
Only 73 percent of police officers passed firearms tests with a score of at least "satisfactory," according to a master's degree thesis defended by Oliver Purik, a senior instructor at the Academy of Security Sciences.
While taking the shooting test is obligatory, skipping it does not result in sanctions, Eesti Päevaleht reported.
On a related topic, this week's Eesti Ekspress reported that half of the warning shots fired from police service weapons over the last three years were shot without following proper procedures.
Although the Police and Border Guard Act does not categorize such shots as use of a firearm, seven of the 15 shots were illegal and two were tactically pointless, the weekly said.
Police and Border Guard operations office head Toomas Malva argued that the ability to properly use a firearm has just as big an influence on overall police officer capability as other specialized skills.