CENTRAL ILLINOIS POLICE TRAINING CENTER
Brian Fengel, Director
Phone: (309) 690-7355
Fax: (309) 690-7359
Heather Grove: hgrove@icc.edu
Diane Schrementi: ds018b@icc.edu
Robert Pyszka: rp717@icc.edu
FOCUS™ Vehicle Fighting Tactics
Instructor: Al Bello
September 24-25, 2026
8am – 4pm
Class will meet at: Tazewell County Sheriff’s Office Range, 21302 Illinois Route 9, Tremont IL
Enrollment Deadline: September 17, 2026
Course Size:
Course Objective
One With The Gun® – Vehicle Fighting Tactics is a 16-hour, two-day, live-fire tactical firearms course built specifically for sworn law enforcement personnel. The course blends classroom discussion, dry rehearsal, demonstration, and live-fire practical exercises to teach officers how to think, move, communicate, and fight effectively in and around vehicles. Students will learn the ballistic realities of common vehicle components, the tactical strengths and limitations of vehicles as cover, the mechanics of firing from inside a vehicle, and the methods by which two-officer teams can survive and respond to an ambush initiated while they remain seated inside the car.
The course is also built to satisfy practical Illinois mandate alignment where vehicle tactics, high-risk traffic stop considerations, cover, concealment, time, use-of-force law, and de-escalation principles intersect. Students will work through both individual and partner-based problems involving in-car engagement, exit-to-cover problems, pillar-based defensive shooting, external vehicle fighting positions, communication under ambush, and post-engagement tactical organization. The overall objective is to produce officers who are more survivable, more deliberate, and more tactically competent when forced to fight in and around vehicles.
*Students must be physically capable of elevating their heart rates safely and without medical concern.
*Students MUST be of average physical fitness or higher. (POWER test standard)
*Students MUST either be certified firearms instructors or have at least 2 shooting courses in their training history within the last 18 months.
*Students MUST bring 600 rds of PISTOL ammunition for the weapon they will shoot.
*Students MUST bring 200 rds of RIFLE ammunition for the weapon they will shoot.
*NO SCAR OR AK Variant Weapons are permitted. Only M4/M16 duty rifle platforms are
allowed.
*Students MUST have an appropriate holster for their weapon/optic/light combo.
*Students MUST bring their duty belts.
*Students MUST bring their vests.
*Students MUST bring eye and ear protection.
*Students MUST bring 20 “dummy” training rounds for their weapon.
*Students MUST bring at least 3 training magazines for their weapon. 5 is preferred.
*Students MUST have an optic mounted on their handguns prior to arriving to class.
*Students MUST have their optic zeroed prior to arriving to class.
*Students should bring a knee pad.
*Student should bring a baseball hat.
*Student should dress for the weather if the range is outdoor.
Course Goals
The goals of this course are to:
- Develop officer competence in surviving and responding to deadly-force encounters initiated in and around vehicles.
- Improve student understanding of the ballistic and structural realities of vehicles, including which portions of the vehicle offer better protection and which do not.
- Train students to shoot safely and effectively from within a vehicle and during rapid transition from inside the vehicle to exterior positions of advantage.
- Strengthen two-officer team communication and coordinated response to a vehicle ambush while still seated or while exiting under threat.
- Improve the student’s ability to use vehicle pillars, wheels, engine compartment areas, and external geometry more intelligently during defensive engagement.
- Reinforce the lawful, proportional, and tactically sound application of force during vehicle-based encounters, including post-stop and occupant-related legal considerations.
- Enhance officer survivability through better use of cover, concealment, movement, communication, and discipline in one of the most compressed and dangerous tactical environments in policing.
Mobile In-Service Training Team#7 Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board
MTU 7 request for certification of this course has been approved by the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board
Meets the following mandatory training criteria: TBD
