The MotoShot Elite is not your typical shooting-range target

By Tim Horan | Salina Journal | Original Article HERE

He doesn’t have a name yet, but the newest addition to the Salina Police Department already has taken a few for the team. Last Thursday a member of the Salina Police Department SWAT team scored a direct hit to the chest of the department’s new test dummy.

“The MotoShot Elite is not your typical shooting-range target. It moves — sometimes very quickly. Live ammunition also is used on this target to sharpen officers’ shooting skills”
said Chief Brad Nelson, pointing at the hole in the dummy’s chest.

“It has been shown to improve shooting if you have moving targets as opposed to static targets,” Nelson said. “It is much more realistic. This is definitely a moving platform that can only improve our officers’ shooting ability. It is a tool.”

The $12,226.87 system came courtesy of the Salina Police Department Excellence Fund, which is under the umbrella of the Greater Salina Community Foundation.

It is the first purchase through the Excellence Fund, established in July of last year. Governed by a board of directors, the fund provides resources not otherwise available from traditional sources, Nelson said.

“They serve as a safe, secure, and trusted conduit for the business and private sector to support their police department,” Nelson said in a news release. “Lastly, the board members are committed to assisting law enforcement officers and their families when tragedy occurs such as line-of-duty deaths or serious injuries.”

Can Use Camera

Nelson said the new target, which is a robotic system that includes the torso of a man, will be utilized further when the $4.5 million police training center is completed next year. While still being designed, the center is expected to have up to 10 firing lanes, two rifle lanes, a garage, and a modern classroom. The MotoShot has four wheels and can be operated remotely. “It also has the ability to place a camera on it,” Nelson said. A 9-foot pole camera can be attached to the target, so officers can view a barricaded subject or see through the window of a vehicle.

“There have been incidences across the nation where officers have been shot by people hiding in cars,” Nelson said. He cited a shooting in the Kansas City area in which a person was hiding in the backseat of a car.

“A police officer came up and looked into the window and the guy shot him. This gives us the ability to approach the vehicle, look in. It’s just another way to keep our officers safe and keep them out of harm’s way.”

Dummy Replaceable

Andrew Zeigler, a detective with the Salina Police Department, said steel targets can also be mounted onto the device. The dummy itself also can be replaced if it is shot too many times. “Shooters can engage the target at different distances and have that target moving,” Zeigler said. Nelson said items can be placed into the hands of the dummy, such as a phone or a weapon, for training purposes. “That would be a judgmental thing, whether to shoot or not,” he said.

Moving and Reactive Target Systems starting at $2,100.

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