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Midland County Sheriff's Office sub-leases firing range

The Midland County Sheriff's Office is making sure they're staying on top of all their firearms training. County commissioners approved them to sub-lease a pit that they'll use on the north side of town Monday morning.
(Source: KWES)

MIDLAND COUNTY, TX (KWES) - The Midland County Sheriff's Office is making sure they're staying on top of all their firearms training. County commissioners approved them to sub-lease a pit that they'll use on the north side of town Monday morning.

In recent years, the Midland County Sheriff's Office was facing some scheduling conflicts with their firearms training.

"The longer you go without firing, the worse your shooting gets so you have to stay on top of it," said Midland County Sheriff Gary Painter.

The sheriff's office had to reschedule training since they were also using the facility with the city. Because they weren't the only ones using it, getting certified took a little bit longer.

"We try to do it once every three months or sometimes every month," said Painter. "We help people that come in. They can't carry a weapon until they qualify and go through proper training with the sheriffs office."

The sheriff's office had another location two miles north of town but they were only using it part time.  The location is currently leased under Tactical Response Resources, but now they have an agreement to sub-lease with the sheriff's office.

"We'll have the opportunity to go out of schedule whenever our officers have the time, to spend a little extra time, a little more energy to do the training we need to do," said Painter.

He said their deputies will still use the city's range but the other location will allow them to get the basics and the extra training for those lacking in firearms skills.

"It's within the certain best interest of the county," said Painter. "We don't want to have a lawsuit for lack of training for deliberate indifference. We want to be able to do different types of training for different facets of training."

County commissioners also approved a donation from Concho Resources, which will allow the sheriff's office to have a building at the training site. It'll be used for safety meetings, firearms cleanings or to keep officers shaded during bad weather.

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