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Police chief wants to switch to more powerful weap
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Police chief wants to switch to more powerful weapons
By JOE RANKIN, Staff Writer
Copyright c 2002 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
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SKOWHEGAN - Residents will have a chance Tuesday to comment on the town police department's plans to acquire new equipment - including new sidearms - under a federal law enforcement grant.
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The 5:30 p.m. hearing on the proposed Department of Justice grant application heads an otherwise routine meeting of the Board of Selectmen at the Municipal Building.
The town is slated to receive $29,000 in federal funds under a Bureau of Justice Assistance grant, to be matched with $3,300 in town funds.
The big item on Police Chief Butch Asselin's proposed shopping list is 18 Hechler & Koch semi-automatic .45-caliber handguns with holsters.
The guns would replace 9 mm Berretta semi-automatics issued in 1990, said Asselin.
While 9 mm handguns were widely used by law enforcement agencies throughout the country, many have replaced them with more powerful weapons.
Asselin said Skowhegan's police department is one of only a handful in Maine where officers carry 9 mm firearms.
While the Beretta is a "nice weapon," it is a smaller caliber pistol and is not as powerful as the .45-caliber, Asselin said. He said Maine State Police extensively tested .45-caliber semi-automatic pistols by a variety of makers in 1997 and "the H&K came out on top."
"We're upgrading because it's been established that for public safety and officer safety the officers need to be outfitted with the best equipment possible," Asselin said. "And we know it's a quality weapon."
The new firearms will cost about $15,000, with holsters and spare magazines.
Asselin is also proposing to use the federal grant money to buy a Kustom Stealthstat, a computerized radar device that can be set up in one place to monitor vehicle speed. It would give police a better idea of when speeding is a problem in a particular area so manpower can be targeted during problem times.
Other proposed purchases under the grant are k-band antennas for police cruiser radar units, binoculars, flashlights, car opening tool kits, and sets of emergency traffic cones.
Asselin said he will send his list of proposed purchases to the Department of Justice following the public hearing. If it is approved officers will probably train with the new firearms early next year.
Skowhegan's police department received a similar grant last year and spent a total of $34,534 for hand held radios, radar units, light bars for cruisers, a laptop computer and projector for training, three Sony digital cameras, and crime scene investigation materials.
Skowhegan also received another grant for $75,000 under the federal CopsMore 2001 Technology Grant program. It was matched with $25,000 in town funds.
The money went to buy a new computer operating system, new personal computers, laptop computers for cruisers, and operating software.
Joe Rankin - 474-9534
jrankin@centralmaine.com
http://www.centralmaine.com/news/stories/020910skow_pre.shtml
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
By JOE RANKIN, Staff Writer
Copyright c 2002 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
E-mail this story to a friend
SKOWHEGAN - Residents will have a chance Tuesday to comment on the town police department's plans to acquire new equipment - including new sidearms - under a federal law enforcement grant.
ADVERTISEMENT
The 5:30 p.m. hearing on the proposed Department of Justice grant application heads an otherwise routine meeting of the Board of Selectmen at the Municipal Building.
The town is slated to receive $29,000 in federal funds under a Bureau of Justice Assistance grant, to be matched with $3,300 in town funds.
The big item on Police Chief Butch Asselin's proposed shopping list is 18 Hechler & Koch semi-automatic .45-caliber handguns with holsters.
The guns would replace 9 mm Berretta semi-automatics issued in 1990, said Asselin.
While 9 mm handguns were widely used by law enforcement agencies throughout the country, many have replaced them with more powerful weapons.
Asselin said Skowhegan's police department is one of only a handful in Maine where officers carry 9 mm firearms.
While the Beretta is a "nice weapon," it is a smaller caliber pistol and is not as powerful as the .45-caliber, Asselin said. He said Maine State Police extensively tested .45-caliber semi-automatic pistols by a variety of makers in 1997 and "the H&K came out on top."
"We're upgrading because it's been established that for public safety and officer safety the officers need to be outfitted with the best equipment possible," Asselin said. "And we know it's a quality weapon."
The new firearms will cost about $15,000, with holsters and spare magazines.
Asselin is also proposing to use the federal grant money to buy a Kustom Stealthstat, a computerized radar device that can be set up in one place to monitor vehicle speed. It would give police a better idea of when speeding is a problem in a particular area so manpower can be targeted during problem times.
Other proposed purchases under the grant are k-band antennas for police cruiser radar units, binoculars, flashlights, car opening tool kits, and sets of emergency traffic cones.
Asselin said he will send his list of proposed purchases to the Department of Justice following the public hearing. If it is approved officers will probably train with the new firearms early next year.
Skowhegan's police department received a similar grant last year and spent a total of $34,534 for hand held radios, radar units, light bars for cruisers, a laptop computer and projector for training, three Sony digital cameras, and crime scene investigation materials.
Skowhegan also received another grant for $75,000 under the federal CopsMore 2001 Technology Grant program. It was matched with $25,000 in town funds.
The money went to buy a new computer operating system, new personal computers, laptop computers for cruisers, and operating software.
Joe Rankin - 474-9534
jrankin@centralmaine.com
http://www.centralmaine.com/news/stories/020910skow_pre.shtml
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Comments
" God is in His Heaven, All is Right in the World. "
- Life NRA Member
"If cowardly & dishonorable men shoot unarmed men with army guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary...and not by general deprivation of constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
This is the sort of abuse of my federal tax dollars that drives me up the wall. It is wrong to steal my money only to use it to buy all sorts of whistles and bells for a whistle stop police force, bad enough that I have to pay the salaries of Dianne Feinstein and Maxine Waters but to add wasting my money buying $100,000 worth of computers for a Barney Fife department!!!
AAARRRGGHHH - STOP IT!!!!!
Quod principi placuit legis habet vigorem.Semper Fidelis
Edited by - shootist3006 on 09/11/2002 14:40:44
Quod principi placuit legis habet vigorem.Semper Fidelis