Does anybody's dept allow personally owned patrol rifles, and if so do you have mind sharing the policy? Helping a friend write a proposal for a 40 officer dept, that only has a rifle in one cruiser per shift. Looking to cover manufacturers allowed, qualification, subject to dept armorer inspection, optics/lights allowed, and reimbursement/replacement policy if used in an OIS.
With Mumbles, we're lucky we still have our Glocks! Used to have shotguns in the stations- but they're all gone too! BUT if the shit hit like a mall shooting or some such they'd BEG guys to open their lockers
I turned in the "operations manual" for my old department, but it stated patrol rifles were allowed, did not specify caliber or deployment procedures, and stated 16" minimum barrel, and the ammunition had to be supplied by the department. Of course, the department never bothered to supply ammunition (and I got sick of asking), so I figured as long as I wasn't going to use 64 grain steel penetrator tracer rounds (XM856), I would be fine. (Yes, someone actually did that...)
Hush. Have him shoot an email out to Malefi&aa, or you can. I know they've covered something like this in past.
I'd like to carry mine too. Nothing like knocking on an apartment door, unknown number of bad guys inside, but we know there's a rifle inside cuz the caller/victim had it pointed at him, and I'm only packing a .45 and a lip.. But nothing bad will ever happen........
Keep the proposal type-specific, for instance AR type rifles are very popular and very good for law enforcement purposes. I would limit the purchase to one or possibly two types of high quality rifles, to keep guys from going and buying the cheapest piece of sh*t rifle, like an Olympic Arms or other such trash. Colt, Daniel Defense or Bravo Company are all top-tier rifles. Smith & Wesson MP&-15's are excellent as well, but not quite as good as the top tier brands (Smith uses a different barrel steel than what the military uses). You must also specify what kind of magazines to use to avoid Thermold or Tapco trash (GI Aluminum, PMag, Lancer etc.). There must be a specific type of ammunition either to be purchased by the officer or the department. There are many decent brands of duty ammunition, although I tend to favor the 62-64 grain bonded-core ammunition because it holds up very well against auto glass (whereas conventional ammunition tends to get its jacket shredded by auto glass). Also a policy for maintenance of the weapons has to be worked out. If optics are desired, this is another issue that must be researched, once again I recommend limiting officer purchases to one or two types high-quality optics. I would also recommend against magnified optics, because unmagnified optics like the Aimpoint or Eotech have a much wider field of view, are faster to get on target and under most circumstances, more than adaquate for police work. A white-light illumination systems is also mandatory for police work. The type of spare magazine carry system must also be decided. Once all this is decided, you must decide upon a training regimen. One or two officers must be selected to go rifle instructor school to qualify those in the department choosing to buy a rifle. Officers must attend a course of instruction; I would really recommend it be no less than 3 days in length for a basic operator course. Then a timeframe for requalification must also be decided (I would recommend at least yearly). Its obviously a lot of work, but you officers much better able to respond incidents quicker with better tools to defend themselves or others with. PM me if you need any help.
