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On 23 September 2025, the Home Team Training Excellence Awards was held at the Home Team Academy (HTA), celebrating training innovations across the Home Team agencies. This year's honorees demonstrated exceptional achievements in developing and delivering training programmes, enhancing the capabilities and readiness of Home Team officers.
Police Life speaks with this year’s Home Team Trainer of the Year (Full-time), Senior Staff Sergeant (SSSgt) Nur Hassan Bin Mohamed Raffie of Jurong Police Division.
Tech-Enhanced Marksmanship
For SSSgt Nur Hassan, there was a simple reason for exploring new tech tools to improve marksmanship scores: he needed better results.
“Traditional training methods for shooting can’t always show officers what exactly they’re doing wrong – things like a slight flinch or an uneven grip are invisible to the naked eye,” he shares.
SSSgt Nur Hassan looked at commercially available training systems and found one that acts as a personal shooting coach. A device is attached to the front of a firearm and uses sensors to track its movements, giving instant feedback to the shooter through a smartphone or tablet.
To complement this device, SSSgt Nur Hassan adopted a laser cartridge that allows shooters to fire at digital targets, projecting scores and tracking accuracy and speed of shooting, without the need for a shooting range.
Initially, several officers were hesitant about this tech-driven approach as they were more comfortable with traditional methods. There were also practical issues with adoption such as having to integrate the two new systems into existing sessions.
However, once SSSgt Nur Hassan started piloting the systems with a small group of officers and trainers, it was evident that they were making progress.
“The moment they saw their real-time shooting data, such as a flinch or uneven grip pressure, their eyes lit up,” he recounts. “The data doesn’t lie, and that’s when I knew that if it worked for them, it would work for the whole Division.”
As more officers started adopting the new systems, the results were remarkable. “Officers didn’t just learn – they improved,” reveals SSSgt Nur Hassan.
Marksmanship rates were boosted by 13 percent because officers were able to analyse their mistakes in real time, fixing issues they were previously unaware of.
Bearing Witness to Lightbulb Moments
“One moment which really stayed with me was watching an officer who’d been in a plateau for some time reach a breakthrough with the new system,” says SSSgt Nur Hassan with pride. “The moment he saw the real-time feedback pinpointing his inconsistent trigger control and gripping, it clicked for him.” It was a reminder that sometimes, all it takes is a little clarity to unlock one’s potential. He says: “That’s what keeps me pushing for better training. The standout moment, for me, will always be watching people grow.”
For SSSgt Nur Hassan, being recognised as one of the recipients of the Home Team Trainer of the Year (Full-time) award is a reminder to never settle for “good enough.”
“Training officers has fundamentally changed how I see growth – both mine and others,” he says. “It’s taught me that real impact comes from empowering people, not just instructing them.”
To aspiring trainers in the Home Team, SSSgt Nur Hassan has these words of advice to share: “Stay curious. Stay hungry. Stay humble. Your growth fuels the growth of others!”
