lemaymiami
Member
Can't read a few of these posts without speaking up again.... At one point in my career I was the guy in charge of our property room for about three years (guns and dope, oh my...). Any police department that mis-handled seized, confiscated, turned in weapons will soon have a new police chief. Nothing will cost a chief his/her job quicker than the slightest hint of misconduct with weapons, whether department owned or just under their control.....
Guns slated for destruction were very carefully inventoried, accounted for, then destroyed (in my case we dumped garbage cans full of weapons into the ocean - one of the few benefits of working in south Florida). An occasional weapon was suitable for conversion to City use, properly logged, then finally issued to an individual (never "given"). My last chief ended even that procedure since he was sharp enough to know there was always a chance that it might just cause a problem years later (or at least the perception of a problem since that's the same thing in law enforcement...). One of the sidearms I carried on the job was a converted Beretta 92 (a European model with the mag release at the bottom of the grips). I had to turn it back in when we went for Sig Sauers my last five years on the job. At that point there weren't any converted weapons being issued by my Department..
Yes, there are probably outfits that are much less careful about weapons that come into their possession.... I wouldn't want to work for any outfit that was that sloppy (or corrupt, take your choice). Like I said before - nothing directly threatens a police chief's job like allowing his/her department to mis-handle weapons. If it becomes known they'll be looking for a new chief.
Guns slated for destruction were very carefully inventoried, accounted for, then destroyed (in my case we dumped garbage cans full of weapons into the ocean - one of the few benefits of working in south Florida). An occasional weapon was suitable for conversion to City use, properly logged, then finally issued to an individual (never "given"). My last chief ended even that procedure since he was sharp enough to know there was always a chance that it might just cause a problem years later (or at least the perception of a problem since that's the same thing in law enforcement...). One of the sidearms I carried on the job was a converted Beretta 92 (a European model with the mag release at the bottom of the grips). I had to turn it back in when we went for Sig Sauers my last five years on the job. At that point there weren't any converted weapons being issued by my Department..
Yes, there are probably outfits that are much less careful about weapons that come into their possession.... I wouldn't want to work for any outfit that was that sloppy (or corrupt, take your choice). Like I said before - nothing directly threatens a police chief's job like allowing his/her department to mis-handle weapons. If it becomes known they'll be looking for a new chief.