Posted on 09/16/2007 8:54:03 PM PDT by neverdem
MIAMI, Sept. 16 (AP) — Patrol officers here will have the option of carrying assault rifles as they try to combat the rise in the use of similar weapons by criminals, the city’s police chief said Sunday.
The chief, John F. Timoney, approved the policy last week, before a Miami-Dade police officer was killed on Thursday in a shootout with a man wielding an assault rifle.
“This is something we do not do with any relish,” Chief Timoney said. “We do this reluctantly.”
The policy had been under review for about a year after officers began seeing an increase in the weapons in the hands of criminals, the chief said.
Officers interested in the guns will have to undergo two days of training and be certified in their use. The Police Department does not yet have money to buy the assault rifles, and if officers want to use them immediately they will have to pay for them, Chief Timoney said.
Years ago, law enforcement specialists like SWAT teams were the only officers to carry assault weapons, but now even some small town police agencies are arming officers with the AR-15, a civilian version of the military M-16 rifle.
Patrol officers in Danbury, Conn., have been allowed to carry the weapons since 2003. Police departments in Merced, Calif., and Waterloo, Iowa, have put them in all patrol vehicles for several years. In Stillwater, Okla., about 70 miles west of Tulsa, every patrol officer is issued an AR-15.
Officers in Los Angeles have been equipped with the weapons since a 1997 gunfight outside a bank where police officers were out-gunned by a man armed...
--snip--
The Miami Police Department said 15 of its 79 homicides last year involved assault weapons. This year, 12 of the 60 homicides have involved the high-power guns...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
He said it with a straight face no doubt.
Sounds good to me.
If they believe they are facing a narco-terrorist insurgency, why don’t they call out the National Guard?
The military should respond to armies foreign and domestic.
So...exactly what is the Time’s definition of “Assault Rifle”, and “High Power Weapon”. They seem to be using the terms interchangeably in the last sentence.
Someone set up us the bomb.
Timoney is extremely anti-gun and supported the Klinton AWBan , but yet now he finds it reasonable for his police to carry these “ evil weapons “ .
I love the irony of it all ....
It was an AP story. Regardless, the folks in the MSM are fairly clueless about all firearms.
So how does this work? They keep it in their cruiser rack and deploy it when needed? Or go to every disturbing the peace call with a two point sling and 5.56 chest rig?
Mag changes are difficult under the best of circumstances. Fortunately, I get to put rounds through a lot of the new weapons. The 6.8 SPC is really impressive. I was surprised.
I tend to agree with you. Anyone who favors a more militarized police force please see New Orleans. They would probably just use their assault rifles to confiscate the Law abiding citizen’s cache, although I am a bit pessimistic.
Ping!
Every department I know keeps their rifles in a cruiser rack or in a case in the trunk.
I’ve got no problem with officers having access to the correct weapon for the job.
Thanks.
Unfortunately, this is all too common amongst the authoritarian type. Government good, public bad.
I have a T/C barrel for my G2 carbine in 6.8. Better trajectory/ballistics than the 30-30. I use it for deer.
They need to go back to carrying shotguns in the front of the car. If it's too long then carry a collapsing stock version. HiStandard used to make a nasty looking bullpup shotgun.
That would ruin your day.
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