Sub-machine gun stolen while West Bloomfield officer attends Tigers game

[shermacman]

Here's a new game! Spot the errors of all the players:
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060615/UPDATE/606150463

DETROIT -- A West Bloomfield Police officer who took a department car and sub-machine gun to a Detroit Tigers game Wednesday night is under investigation.
Between 8-10 p.m., as the officer attended the game, someone broke into the undercover car as it sat parked on Woodward and stole a .9 mm Colt SMG sub-machine gun from the back seat along with some ammunition, said Detroit Police Sgt. Omar Feliciano.
The gun is Colt's lightweight version of the M-16 rifle, according the gunmaker's Web site. It will fire all standard .9 mm bullets and is designed for close fights.
The West Bloomfield officer -- who both police departments declined to name -- is a three-year veteran.

More!

 

[proud2deviate]

Nine tenths of a millimeter? Next gen needle-gun, perhaps

 

[Maser]

LOL!! You beat me to it. Maybe it was a class III pea shooter.

 

[Barbara]

Well, its not as if he can carry into a sports arena in Michigan..that would be dangerous!

 

[Bigjake]

asside from what was already pointed out, what technicallitys did they miss?

 

[Selfdfenz]

.9mm

They must have tiny criminals in that area. I bet the Bore Snake for that unit is a special order item?

S-

 

[ABTOMAT]

Sounds easier to shoot than the "45mm" Colts that the Boston Globe mentioned a while back.

 

[carpettbaggerr]

Well, I guess it's so small that he didn't see it sitting in the back seat. Or else the officer figured nobody'd steal anything out of a cop car.

 

[pete f]

Now that is an "awwwww chit NOOOOOOO!!!!!" moment in anybody's book.

 

[Dacoda]

Ok gentlemen... before we go making harsh comments and accusations of this officer... lets all remember... this officer was the "only one professionoo 'nuff to use" that weapon.


Did I get it right?

 

[4v50 Gary]

Some departments allow officers to take their equipment and vehicle home. This ensures a faster response time if a specialized unit needs to be assembled. Now, if such was the case, attending a game isn't so bad if said officer was off duty. However, leaving anything in sight (presumably it was in some sort of carrying case) of a back seat is inviting an auto-burglary. As a police officer, he should have known that "smash & grab" happens all the time. I hope for the public's sake the gun is recovered.

 

[Maser]

What i'm kind of wondering is how come the SMG was in the same place that an arrested person gets placed at? Wouldn't it make more sense to keep it in the trunk?

 

[Azrael256]

As a police officer, he should have known that "smash & grab" happens all the time

Absolutely. He deserves a good hard thwack across the head from his watch commander. Aside from that, the thief is the one to hold responsible.

The way the article is phrased makes me think that the weapon was in some kind of case or bag. I think the theft was more of an attempt to steal a bag that might contain a gun rather than to steal a SMG laying across the backseat with a couple boxes of ammo next to it. Either way, it should've been locked in the trunk.

 

[Lucky]

Is this the SMG based on the AR15? How much TLC do those need to function?

 

[Maser]

I was just looking at an old gun price list book and it said the Colt target model of the AR15 comes either in 9mm or .223. I'm guessing it's the same lower as the true AR15, but just with a 9mm upper and different types of magazines.

What would really be cool was if that SMG in the story was one of them CAR models in 9mm. That would be a dream to shoot. The story does say the gun was made for fighting up close so i'm guessing it was a CAR model.

 

[SteveS]

What a surprise?!? Tiger Stadium is in such a nice part of town. Very low crime.

 

[sparx]

.9mm

They must have tiny criminals in that area. I bet the Bore Snake for that unit is a special order item?

Nah... Just spit on a thread and run it through! Works great on those "hopper poppers". Loaded with the correct HV ammo using the latest technology in micro-primers, grasshoppers don't stand a chance (though I've heard that .9mm FMJ rounds can bounce right off their thorax, so make every shot a head-shot)!

 

[LaEscopeta]

.9 mm Colt SMG sub-machine gun

Are they stuttering? Doesn’t SMG mean sub-machine?

Also, here is the link from Colt’s web site for the firearm I think they are talking about;

http://www.colt.com/law/smg.asp

Looks like a 9 mm select-fire carbine built from M-4 parts. Look at the 9 mm magazine fit into the .223 mag well. (To be a true sub-gun, doesn’t it have to be full auto only? Or at least burst-fire, but not semi-auto? I don’t know, I’m just asking.)

 

[sterling180]

Between 8-10 p.m., as the officer attended the game, someone broke into the undercover car as it sat parked on Woodward and stole a .9 mm Colt SMG sub-machine gun from the back seat along with some ammunition, said Detroit Police Sgt. Omar Feliciano.

Hasn't that cop or the Detroit Police Department,ever heard of Car safes,for carrying shotguns,smgs,pistols,etc,etc.If he wanted to carry department property,why didn't he install a car safe,or use a car that had one installed-in case of an incident like what had happend? By the way,doesn't an officer need a senior officers permission,to carry that kind of hardware,around with them?

By the way,why did he need to take a Colt Commando smg with him,when he went to watch a baseball game.Was he under attack from gansters or terrorists,or did he feel safer carrying it.?

If this happend in the UK,with a G36 assault-rifle or an MP5 smg,then the commissioner, the Police Cheif,the Superintendant,the Cheif Inspector and Inspector-would have that guy for breakfast and fire him in the process,by booting him out on his backside.

 

[Kurush]

For the sake of argument... So what? There are 200+ million guns in this country, probably a few thousand get stolen every day. Is a 9mm AR-15 style SMG really any more dangerous than a $150 wal-mart shotgun loaded with 000 buck?

 

[Red State]

I'll trade you the Walmart shotgun for the Colt SMG. Straight up.

But I do see your point. They can both be used improperly.

 

[DoubleTapDrew]

Lying on the back seat? Nice.
I would think the trunk or locked in the cabin would be a better choice. I'm not sure what a criminal would do with it (money-wise). You get caught with a non-transferrable dept. owned NFA gun and you just tacked 10 years and $100K onto whatever sentence you were looking at before, courtesy of the ATF. Of course criminals aren't very bright and laws don't scare them anyway.

 

[bamawrx]

You must admit it would be a cool gun to have, hold, till death to part etc..

I have a Colt AR-15 in 9mm semi-auto and its tons of fun. No recoil, light weight, very quiet, great for kids and new shooters.

 

[sterling180]

For the sake of argument... So what? There are 200+ million guns in this country, probably a few thousand get stolen every day. Is a 9mm AR-15 style SMG really any more dangerous than a $150 wal-mart shotgun loaded with 000 buck?

No,but the fact is that it belonged to the police department and that cop should have known better,than to have taken a submachine gun out with him and not taken precautions as to secure it.

If some street punk or gang member uses that gun to kill innocent people with,then guess who is going to have lawsuits and lawyers,nosing around-the Detroit Police Department and the Commissioner and Police Cheif are really going to have a pleasant day,dealing with all the lawsuits as well as members of the free press-who would have a field day,by covering the story of police incompetance and broadcasting it around the USA and around the free-world.

That cop was a total idiot,to have stored it,on the back-seat of the squad-car.Talk about letting the whole world know,as well as an extremely happy theif, or theives.


000 buckshot is powerful,especially at closer-ranges-but the point is that this is about incompetance,carelessness and poor storage of department property.I don't think that the cops, the Mayor and the Mayor's office,are going to share your views-somehow.I think that what you had said would have struck a sensitive nerve,somehow.

On all the Remington firearms manuals,it shows a picture of a gun safe and guidelines about safe storage and weapon handling.So it does matter,if a weapon is stolen-if the owner is careless and irresponsible-in terms of failing to secure and store them appropriately.However,if professional theives, mange to break into gun safes and make off with weapons,then the owner has at least, tried their best,to store their weapons-safely.The fact is that a professional,has some useful tools,for breaking into theif-proof gunsafes-so the fact is that you really can't stop those,determined and highly-skilled,types of theives.

 

[another okie]

Just a little history note from this post:

"Next gen needle-gun, perhaps "

I think you mean a dart gun or blow gun.
A needle gun was a breech loading cartridge rifle developed by the Prussians in the 1860s. It's called that because the primer was between the powder and the bullet. When you pulled the trigger a needle punctured the casing and went through the powder, striking the primer and igniting it. The primer flash, in other words, went backwards. It was an effective weapon, but the needle, not surprisingly, rusted quickly.

There is a very good book on the Franco-Prussian War by Michael Howard. It's one of the best military history books I've ever read.