PC Bullshit has gone too far!
Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2006 4:09 pm
http://www.tbo.com/news/MGBHJ1TASIE.html
Police Target Practice Aims For Sensitivity
By MICHAEL SASSO msasso@tampatrib.com
Published: Jan 23, 2006
TAMPA - In recent years, Florida law enforcement agencies have been pondering an unusual question of political correctness: If your officers fire at targets that are black in color, is the agency sending a racist message?
Not wanting to take any chances, the Tampa and St. Petersburg police departments, among other law enforcement agencies, have switched to more colorful targets.
"It never was a big issue or a big debate," said Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy, whose agency switched to blue silhouette targets from black ones two years ago. "Nowadays, you can never be too sensitive, and we felt that it was the right direction to go."
Traditionally, the target at government and private gun ranges has been a black silhouette of a human form. Black silhouettes aren't meant to represent any race, and they tend to cost less than colorful targets.
However, in recent years, two companies that sell targets to gun ranges have noticed a change in orders from Florida law enforcement agencies.
In every other state, black targets outsell blue, orange and other colors, said Guy Wynn, general manager of National Target Co. of Frederick, Md.
But in Florida, the blue targets outsell the black, he said.
"Florida's where it all started," Wynn said. "They [Florida police agencies] wanted to know if we could do it in blue. Other states do it, too, but it seemed to start in Florida."
L.E.T., short for Law Enforcement Targets, of St. Paul, Minn., has noticed the same phenomenon. Blue and green silhouettes have started catching on nationwide, said Jeff Brown, the company's marketing director.
Concerns about race are behind the trend, Wynn and Brown said.
Police agencies are wondering what message they are sending by firing at black silhouettes, Brown said.
Wanting to prevent any problems, a few years ago the St. Petersburg Police Department switched from black to "Smurf blue," agency spokesman George Kajtsa said, referring to the pint-sized blue villagers of 1980s cartoon fame.
"Perhaps someone would misconstrue it as a racial issue, so before it became an issue, they switched to a different color," he said.
Eventually, officers wanted more lifelike targets, so the St. Petersburg police switched to targets with full-color photographs of people in threatening poses, Kajtsa said.
The agency still has some black silhouettes in storage, so the traditional targets occasionally are used, he said.
Dee Johnson, who teaches a criminal justice class at Durant High School, was at Shooting Sports gun range in Tampa one recent weekday, supervising her students.
She thinks the traditional black silhouettes are fine.
"I, for one, don't see it as a racial issue," said Johnson, who is black. "And I am the type to address racial issues."
Marshall Felton, who was practicing with his pistol at The Indoor Shooting Co. in Thonotosassa, thinks switching to blue targets is a good idea.
"If you keep seeing the same [black] image, I guess it might affect your subconscious," Felton. said
Police Target Practice Aims For Sensitivity
By MICHAEL SASSO msasso@tampatrib.com
Published: Jan 23, 2006
TAMPA - In recent years, Florida law enforcement agencies have been pondering an unusual question of political correctness: If your officers fire at targets that are black in color, is the agency sending a racist message?
Not wanting to take any chances, the Tampa and St. Petersburg police departments, among other law enforcement agencies, have switched to more colorful targets.
"It never was a big issue or a big debate," said Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy, whose agency switched to blue silhouette targets from black ones two years ago. "Nowadays, you can never be too sensitive, and we felt that it was the right direction to go."
Traditionally, the target at government and private gun ranges has been a black silhouette of a human form. Black silhouettes aren't meant to represent any race, and they tend to cost less than colorful targets.
However, in recent years, two companies that sell targets to gun ranges have noticed a change in orders from Florida law enforcement agencies.
In every other state, black targets outsell blue, orange and other colors, said Guy Wynn, general manager of National Target Co. of Frederick, Md.
But in Florida, the blue targets outsell the black, he said.
"Florida's where it all started," Wynn said. "They [Florida police agencies] wanted to know if we could do it in blue. Other states do it, too, but it seemed to start in Florida."
L.E.T., short for Law Enforcement Targets, of St. Paul, Minn., has noticed the same phenomenon. Blue and green silhouettes have started catching on nationwide, said Jeff Brown, the company's marketing director.
Concerns about race are behind the trend, Wynn and Brown said.
Police agencies are wondering what message they are sending by firing at black silhouettes, Brown said.
Wanting to prevent any problems, a few years ago the St. Petersburg Police Department switched from black to "Smurf blue," agency spokesman George Kajtsa said, referring to the pint-sized blue villagers of 1980s cartoon fame.
"Perhaps someone would misconstrue it as a racial issue, so before it became an issue, they switched to a different color," he said.
Eventually, officers wanted more lifelike targets, so the St. Petersburg police switched to targets with full-color photographs of people in threatening poses, Kajtsa said.
The agency still has some black silhouettes in storage, so the traditional targets occasionally are used, he said.
Dee Johnson, who teaches a criminal justice class at Durant High School, was at Shooting Sports gun range in Tampa one recent weekday, supervising her students.
She thinks the traditional black silhouettes are fine.
"I, for one, don't see it as a racial issue," said Johnson, who is black. "And I am the type to address racial issues."
Marshall Felton, who was practicing with his pistol at The Indoor Shooting Co. in Thonotosassa, thinks switching to blue targets is a good idea.
"If you keep seeing the same [black] image, I guess it might affect your subconscious," Felton. said