This presentation will explore Best Practices for educating and training police snipers assigned to SWAT teams. Completing a basic sniper course is only the beginning of their career path and not the end. However, many snipers only receive basic certification and do not continue to develop their skillsets due to a myriad of excuses, including lack of funding, inadequate training, lack of training time, organizational culture and fear of failure. In conjunction with training recommendations from the American Sniper Association, we will discuss the different levels of training that should occur and identify when that training should take place during a police sniper's career. Basic, intermediate, and advanced competencies will be identified, helping attendees understand what to expect of a police sniper in 2026. This course is open to police snipers, sniper supervisors, SWAT Commanders and organizational leaders over SWAT.

Mark Lang is a 29-year veteran of the Dallas Police Department and is currently in his 22nd year as a member of Dallas SWAT. Since 2008, he and his team of instructors have taught Public Venue Response and Deployment courses across the United States and into Canada. Foreseeing the domestic and international terrorist threats at public venues, Lang's team trains SWAT teams in the proactive deployment at major events. With an emphasis on police snipers, operators, bomb technicians and command and control, many consider Lang to be the Subject Matter Expert (SME) in this field. With his curriculum having been taught to officers ranging from limited-use venues to Levi's Stadium for Super Bowl 50, his instructing cadre completed their first NASCAR venue in May 2017.