4.7. SR 12-16-2002 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Individual Officer Sidearm: Purchased by each individual officer via their annual uniform allowance. Department provides practice ammunition and duty ammunition each year. The weapon is used for personal protection and close quarter combat situations the officer may encounter while on-duty. Beretta 12 ga. Model 1201FP Shotgun: Department weapon. Uses either 00 buck or slug, used for medium distances or shots up to 100 yards. Used in situations involving multiple suspects or situations where a slug offers greater penetration. Requires significant training for patrol officers - most choose not to use the weapon due to significant recoil issues. Cannot be used where there is concern that 00 buck rounds might miss part of the intended target. Being eliminated by many departments as a liability. H & K MP-5 Sub-machine Gun: Department weapon. Uses 9mm pistol round. Utilizes either a 15 or a 30 round magazine offering high capacity and rapid cyclic rate of fire. Can be fired in semi-automatic mode, burst mode or fully automatic. Offers range of up to 100 yards but is best suited for close quarter entry - specifically SWAT work or perimeter details. Very limited in range - although classified as a rifle, it is not accurate beyond 100 yards and has no penetration power at long distances. Very expensive to purchase and maintain. Our current inventory is between 10-17 years old and will need to be replaced at a cost of $1,854 per weapon. Colt or DPMS AR-15 or A-15 Rifle: Department weapon. Uses a .223 caliber round and has a 20 round magazine. Can be used close quarters or at great distances. Utilizes a collapsible stock to make the weapon multi-faceted for a variety of applications. Will work in all department applications and requires less training than most long arms for patrol use. Weapon has a stock that works in four different positions accommodating different sized officers. Weapon price is $980.20 a weapon, or half the cost of an MP-5. We currently have four of these weapons in our inventory. Advantages to unifying our weapon inventory: We are suggesting that we go to one standard shoulder fired weapon for use by all officers. This would eliminate the need to replace the expensive MP-5's as they wear out as well as having to supply the large amount of ammun/fion needed to train on that weapon. We would in fact be able to train each year by buying only the handgun and ARq 5 ammunition needed to train on these two weapons systems. Although SWAT would still need to train on the variety of weapons that they have, we would decrease significantly the types of ammunition needed for patrol training each year. The simplification in our inventory also encourages our officers to be more proficient in the weapons that they carry. It is much easier to train officers with their sidearm and one shoulder fired weapon, versus training with the sidearm and three shoulder frred weapons. The department firmly believes that in our current litigious surroundings, that we are better apt to defend claims against the City when we can establish proof that our officers are highly proficient with their weapons systems versus merely stating that we were able to qualify them with the variety of weapons once a year. Having to train with just one shoulder fired weapon will allow us to concentrate more thoroughly to insure that each officer is highly skilled in the operation and deployment of the weapons that they are responsible for.