Law Enforcement Gunfighting Taught by a Pro The Reston Group LLC

Photos: Courtesy of The Reston Group

In 2008, Deputy Jared Reston of the Jacksonville Florida Sheriff’s Office was shot 7 times and survived. His story echoes the ethos of the “combat mindset” and the “will to win.”

Deputy Reston’s incident escalated from trying to apprehend a shoplifter to being shot with a GLOCK .45 through the chin. Despite this, Reston returned fire with his GLOCK 22 .40 caliber, with one hand. Reston said, “The suspect continued to fire at me, while I tried to put rounds on target which hit and had the desired effect.” Eventually the suspect fell and, when he rolled near Reston, he grabbed him and fired three contact shots in close proximity to his head area. Reston’s experience coupled with his eleven years in law enforcement, including SWAT propelled him to develop the Reston Group LLC (www.restongrouptraining.com).

(Reston Group LLC co-founder, Michael Hiday)

Reston Group’s co-founder, Michael Hiday, is also an active officer with over 23 years experience. Hiday’s experience includes serving as a Shift Leader on high threat protective details in the Middle East, including protection of the US Ambassador to Afghanistan. Hiday brings a unique approach to Reston Group’s training programs which is reflected in “a training group specifically focused on the needs of law enforcement officers and their missions. Our mission at Reston Group is to bring working armed professionals a set of proven “best practices” to use to prevail in increasingly violent critical incidents.”

The Reston Group offers a few core courses:

2-Day Rifle – with an emphasis on rifle competency

2-Day Pistol – with an emphasis on pistol competency

2 or 5 Day Performance Gun Fighting – which takes shooting fundamentals and increased them to high performance skill level enabling an officer to perform during any firearm engagement.

Winning an Armed Encounter Seminar – a seminar that includes a detailed debrief of Reston’s shooting.

Reston also said, “We will also develop and provide any type of specific training an agency may request from combatives’ to SWAT to counter-assault. Since we are still full time law enforcement officers, we bring any current training we’ve received to the classes and our full time status also allows us to offer training at discounted prices compared to other training venues.”

The Reston Group has trained officers with the Darlington (SC) Sheriff’s Office, St Johns County (FL) Sherriff’s Office and the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center (www.alerrt.org) based in Texas. For some of their shooting classes, they will also offer open enrollment, at the discretion of the instructors, for responsible civilians.

Getting Shot doesn’t hurt – until a few minutes later…

Detective Reston said, “Getting shot doesn’t hurt – until a few minutes later but if you prepare and train for it…and never give up the fight, you will survive and win.” For Reston’s shooting incident, the Public Safety Officers Medal of Valor was awarded to him by Vice President Biden, the highest award a public safety officer can receive. For more information or to schedule training go to www.restongrouptraining.com.