Falmouth police detail firearms training and defend purchase of 100 new pistols

The Town of Falmouth’s police firearms team on Monday described why the department is replacing its service pistols and laid out training and range plans that officials said exceed state minimums.

The department is buying 100 new pistols to replace roughly 73 older pistols, the firearms team lead said. “Our current firearms were purchased on or about 02/2010. Makes them about 14, 15 years old. They are, at their end life,” the firearms team lead said. He told the meeting the new purchase includes optics, flashlights and holsters and that the department also plans to acquire 36 suppressors for rifles.

Officials said the procurement was approved at town meeting and the purchase reflects maintenance problems and planning for possible future growth. “When an officer is involved in a shooting, the state police take your firearm and they hold it until the whole case is done,” the firearms team lead said, explaining one reason to keep a larger inventory available while other weapons may be held as evidence.

Why it matters: Falmouth officials framed the buy as both a safety and readiness measure. The firearms team lead described multiple training cycles a year and said the department deliberately exceeds the Massachusetts Police Training Committee’s baseline requirements. “Every Massachusetts police officer needs to fire at least twice a year,” he said, and departments must also provide a separate four‑hour instructional block that can include classroom work or simulated training.

Training and simulations: The department described examples of live‑fire and scenario‑based trainings, including night‑fire exercises and MOUT (shoot‑house) drills intended to simulate building entries. The firearms lead said the department uses stress‑inducing elements such as timers and optional physical exertion in training to better prepare officers for real situations while keeping exercises safe. He also outlined use of traveling projector‑based simulators and said the chiefs hope to incorporate a permanent simulator in a new station if the project allows.

Range access and costs: Falmouth does not have a permanent local range and currently rents the Monument Beach Sportsman’s Club, the lead said. “It’s like $300 a day, but still, that’s $3,000 that we had to rent a range from on top of, you know, all the other expenses,” he said, describing roughly 10 days of rental in the fall as an example of recurring training costs. Chiefs said one goal for a new station is to address the department’s range access problems, but they cautioned that building an indoor range would add major cost and require air‑mitigation systems.

Less‑lethal tools and equipment: The firearms lead described the department’s less‑lethal toolkit — beanbag rounds, batons, tasers, pepper spray and BolaWrap — and said use is governed by training and target‑area guidance. On suppressors, he said the devices are intended to reduce decibel exposure, not to make weapons silent: “All a suppressor does is it brings it to … a decibel level that is less likely to cause permanent hearing damage.”

Procurement details left to town staff: The firearms lead said his understanding is that officers who want to keep an old duty weapon may be allowed to purchase it and that excess weapons are slated for destruction, but he deferred final disposition and contractual details to the chief or the town manager.

What’s next: Officials said the procurement was approved at town meeting; details of delivery, training schedules tied to the new equipment and final decisions about range facilities will be addressed by department leadership and the town manager as the project moves forward.