Information on Loughborough

Officers from Leicestershire win national rifle shooting championship

Posted on 23/04/2008
J. Milton

police shooting team

A team of four police officers from Leicestershire Constabulary have won a national rifle shooting championship.

The Police Sport UK Short Range Finals were held in Wakefield in North Yorkshire on the weekend of April 11th - 13th 2008. Six police forces qualified for the final including a team of four people from Leicestershire Constabulary.

They were; Inspector Chris Brown, Commander of North West Leicestershire Local Policing Unit, PC Adam Ploszczanski, a neighbourhood beat officer for Uppingham, Phil Smith and Ernie Cooper, who are both retired officers.

It is a very hotly contested event, which was last won by Leicestershire in 2006. This year, the team narrowly beat West Midlands Police by one point. Each member of the team shot three targets at 25 yards, a total of 30 shots each. The team was presented with a large silver trophy.

Inspector Chris Brown took up small bore shooting nine years ago after a brief foray into the sport when he was 16. Since joining Leicestershire Constabularys Shooting Section, based at the shooting range in Holwell, he has taken part in many individual events and team events. He has also secured a place in the British Police Team (BPT) which competes against Forces across Europe and has shot for the BPT in Germany earlier this year. Inspector Brown also competed in the individual short range Championships, coming joint third this year. He won it 2002.

Inspector Brown said; "Small bore shooting is a complex sport and I enjoy the competitive nature of it. I also find it very relaxing. It requires a great deal of concentration and it is one of the few times, when you have to think about nothing else except the sport - it requires 100% concentration. It teaches you how to control your body, your breathing, your temperament and how to be safe around guns. It is also very technical, if you are just the smallest amount out, you will miss the bulls eye.

"My interest in shooting doesnt come from my job in the police, Ive never worked in the Firearms Department, it first started when I was 16 and I used to walk past a shooting range when I was doing my paper round. I shot for about a year but gave it up until I overheard two people talking about the Shooting Section of the police so I took it up again about nine years ago and found that I was quite good at it!"

In May, Inspector Brown is competing in the British Police Team against the army.