PALO, Leyte – The Philippine National Police (PNP) regional office here is pushing for the conduct of quarterly 8-bullet test to standardize, develop, and increase the level of confidence and proficiency of each police personnel in using their service firearms.
At least 8,823 police officers from the lowest to highest rank will go through the test in the Eastern Visayas Region, said Lt. Col. Ma. Bella Rentuaya, PNP regional spokesperson in an interview Tuesday.
“This is implemented nationwide wherein each policeman will use their issued short firearm. This will really instill the proper handling and familiarization of the firearm’s safety procedures during actual or live firing,” she said.
The 8-bullet test consists of four stages, the five, seven, 10, and 15-meter distance targets.
To pass the two initial stages, participants must be able to fire the gun and hit the A4 size paper target within three seconds.
Reaching the final level requires the participant to hit the same target in 10-meter distance within five seconds.
To save time and resources, the PNP-regional learning and doctrine development division (RLDDD) has formed the 8-bullet test mobile training team to facilitate the test in each city and provincial police offices in the region.
For the first quarter, the mobile team has already conducted the test in Southern Leyte on Feb. 25 to 27, the regional headquarters here on March 4 to 6 and in Tacloban City on March 10 to 11.
On March 16 to 17, they will conduct the test in Leyte, Biliran on March 31 to April 1, Ormoc City on April 2 to 3, Samar on April 13 to 17, Eastern Samar on April 27 to 30, Northern Samar on May 12 to 15, and the Regional Mobile Force Battalion May 26 to 28. (PNA)
