New Mexico Police Department Needs Help With Legacy NRA Range

We were contacted by the Albuquerque Police Department (ABQ PD) regarding their firearm range, a large facility featuring over 100 targets that previously hosted the annual NRA competition. The range required a comprehensive maintenance assessment and a modern strategic plan for future operations.

Currently, the department conducts training in small cohorts, utilizing only about 10 targets at a time. Activating all 100 targets for a 10-officer class causes unnecessary wear and tear, accelerating maintenance costs. To resolve this, we designed a plan to segment the firing line into smaller, independent zones.

Through updates to the control software, we would grant training officers the flexibility to select exactly 10, 20, or 50 targets based on class size. This zonal control will significantly reduce operational strain and lower long-term maintenance expenses. Following the software integration, we would troubleshoot and repair all outstanding issues with the targets and their peripheral systems.

To start, we redesigned the user interface in the software to streamline and make it less confusing. During this process we discovered several technical issues with the control cards and the assigned I.P. address'. Each target is assigned an I.P. address and that is what ties that target to a bank of cards. The cards in that bank can control up to 2 targets. We found some that were assigned identical address' and the same target number. So, for example, turning target number 1 would also turn target 17.

We quickly discovered that the wiring down range did not match what was supposed to be inside the bank either. We would apply power to target 1 and find that target 4 would be energized. There was was quite a lot of this problem all over this range.

We were able to get the wiring problems solved, now it was time to address mechanical issues. There were several targets that had broken standoffs, broken or missing valves and actuators and some missing hardware.

We were able to repair all the mechanical, all the electrical and all the technical issues. Now it was time to solve the 10 targets at a time dilemma. We made groups of targets in segments of 10 and then split the range in half. Because this range uses Air Command to control the targets remotely, we could assign a button from the cordless phone to turn each segment separate from the rest of the targets.

After the setup, we tested the targets and were able to accomplish the mission. The PD was happy, we were happy and the users of this range will be very happy! Range mastery indeed.