I thought I remembered reading that in urban environments the distances were much less than 100 yards probably more like 50 yards. He also asked what caliber police used.
For training purposes, all practical (and some impractical) distances are used...Not all skill levels are the same...A personal friend of more than 30 years was involved in a hostage shootout in a major local city (not hard to figure out)...He was one of four primary snipers assigned to the incident, and since he was certified (and still revered) as their best long distance shooter, he was placed with a spotter on a black tar-roofed building later measured at slightly more than 900 meters...His rifle was a Remington 700 in .300 Win Mag...
There were four targets, each holding a hostage and each armed with a handgun...All four shooters and spotters were in radio contact with their team commander who was the
only one who could authorize taking shots...Each spotter called the signal "clear" when a shot was open for his shooter...Only when the commander heard four "clears" in unison would he make the "fire" call...
My friend had been on the roof exposed to the weather that day lying in one position looking through the ocular lens of his Leupold scope for 11 hours when an opportunity arose as his target momentarily allowed his hostage to give a brief glance at the chest of the target...His spotter called "clear" and as fortune permitted, the other three spotters called clear simultaneously...The commander called "fire" and four simultaneous shots were taken from distances ranging from 50 to 900 meters...
All targets dropped dead instantly with no harm to the hostages...All shooters immediately readied for a second shot if necessary...None was needed and the "all clear, stand down" command was given by the commander...My friend's spotter, who is also a friend of many years, told me that as soon as his shooter heard the "stand down" call, he cleared his rifle, put his head down on the rooftop and cried like a baby for several minutes...
It takes a very special person with acutely honed discipline and skills to have accomplished a feat like that...I have known this man for decades, and know many other instances, many of which I can never reveal, but to meet him today, no one would ever suspect he could be capable of such an incident...I only talk about this one because it was well publicized, and his one shot is legendary among those in the know...
I can only say that I have a very close, limited circle of friends whose presence I would pray for if my back was against the wall in a deadly situation, and my primary choice would be this man...
...Ben
