The Camp Sumter Defensive Pistol Association in Andersonville, Georgia hosted an International Defensive Pistol Association (IDPA) Safety Officer (SO) Certification Course on Saturday, December 10, 2011. The class was attended by 11 Safety Officer candidates.
As a volunteer driven sport, IDPA depends heavily on Safety Officers to officiate at IDPA competitions. To provide for uniform officiating, IDPA has Safety Officer Instructors train and certify IDPA members as Safety Officers.
The Certification Course is a minimum of 8.5 hours. Initially, there is a 5 hour classroom segment on the rules, range commands, and match requirements of IDPA.
At the end of the classroom portion, candidates must take a written test on the rules of IDPA. It is a closed book test consisting of 50 questions. A passing score on the test is required before candidates can begin the range exercises.
After the classroom instruction, candidates proceed to the range for demonstrations and practical exercises. The range exercises begin with demonstrations by the Safety Officer Instructor of various IDPA techniques and pitfalls that can be encountered while officiating. Then the candidates are required to perform the techniques satisfactorily while being observed by the instructor.
As a final exercise, candidates must shoot a scored test, while other candidates time, score, and record each candidate’s results. The candidates are evaluated on their ability to officiate properly and on satisfactory gunhandling skills. This final evaluation must be performed to the instructor’s satisfaction.
Passing the written test and satisfactorily performing the practical exercises allows the candidates’ information to be sent to IDPA Headquarters for final Certification as Safety Officers. Upon certification, they are qualified to serve as Safety Officers at local matches, Sanctioned Championships, and to serve as Match Directors of an IDPA Club.
Safety Officer Certification Courses are conducted periodically by local IDPA clubs. Check with your local club for scheduling. For a list of Safety Officer Instructors, visit the IDPA website.
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