Doug Huffman
Banned
imported post
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080508/METRO/970320295/1001
The Metropolitan Police Department has joined other major U.S. cities in arming patrol officers with assault rifles to protect them against criminals with high-powered weapons, weeks after being released from a federal program that monitors the use of excessive force.
"We want to be as accurate as possible and have more stopping power," Assistant Chief Patrick Burke said yesterday.
The department already has 500 semiautomatic AR-15 rifles, which were converted from fully automatic rifles, and has trained 340 officers to use them.
Chief Burke said the weapons will go in service after the department decides how to rack them in patrol cars, but gave no specific start date.
The Chicago Police Department is making similar plans and the City of Miami Police Department is already using such weapons.
"We need to be equally equipped with the firearms that are being used against the police," said Monique Bond, a Chicago police spokeswoman. "If officers cannot protect themselves, they cannot protect residents."
Last month, Chicago had one of the most violent crime waves in recent history — 36 shootings in which nine people were killed and an AK-47 assault rifle was used to shoot up a plumbing-supply store.
Miami police began giving patrol police assault rifles in September, about a week before a Miami-Dade County officer was killed by a suspect with a high-powered rifle.
Miami Police Executive Assistant Delrish Moss said officials were reluctant to make such a decision but felt it was necessary.
Concerns about D.C. officers using excessive force surfaced after the city lowered standards in police recruiting in 1989 and 1990.
On April 7, the department qualified to end a seven-year, voluntary Justice Department oversight of incidents in which officers used their weapons or other forms of force in the line of duty.
City officers fatally shot 12 people in 1998, and the department led the country in fatal shootings in the 1990s.
However, the number of fatal police-involved shootings was five or fewer each year from 1999 to 2006, according to a report from the D.C. police department.
Last year, eight people were fatally shot by city officers, compared with two in 2006.
City officers fired 219 rounds last year, up from 64 in 2006. The department is now investigating the conduct of two officers who this month were exonerated by federal investigators in the fatal shooting of 14-year-old DeOnte Rawlings, whom they suspected in the theft of a mini-bike.
Ronald Moten, co-founder of the youth-advocacy group Peaceoholics, acknowledged that criminals, including youths, are getting their hands on powerful weapons that "you cannot buy in the store" but said giving police bigger guns will not solve the problem.
"If I was a police officer, I would want to be as equipped as the criminals," he said. "But I don't think it's the answer."
Prince George's County and Montgomery County police representatives said they have seen more powerful weapons used in recent years and have given officers the option to carry assault rifles.
City police did not have statistics yesterday on the types of weapons being used in crimes.
The department's SWAT already has such weapons. A spokesman for the Baltimore Police Department said only SWAT officers have assault rifles because the department has seen mostly handguns used in crime.
"It's a specialized weapon for specialized units," said Officer Troy Harris, a Baltimore police spokesman.
D.C. Council member Jim Graham said he would "be inclined to support" the use of assault rifles because he sees no alternative in the war on guns.
"When the criminals are armed better than the police, there's a problem," said Mr. Graham, Ward 1 Democrat, who last year dealt with hundreds of shootings between rival street gangs in his district. "What are we going to do?"
POLICE SHOOTINGS
A month after being freed from intensive federal monitoring of shooting incidents, D.C. patrol officers will be issued assault rifles to match the increasing firepower of violent criminals.
Year Discharges* People Shot People Killed
1999 34 7 4
2000 20 6 1
2001 29 14 3
2002 24 5 5
2003 28 11 5
2004 28 10 2
2005 23 7 4
2006 13 6 2
2007 31 12 8
* Intentional firing at people [reformatted]
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080508/METRO/970320295/1001
The Metropolitan Police Department has joined other major U.S. cities in arming patrol officers with assault rifles to protect them against criminals with high-powered weapons, weeks after being released from a federal program that monitors the use of excessive force.
"We want to be as accurate as possible and have more stopping power," Assistant Chief Patrick Burke said yesterday.
The department already has 500 semiautomatic AR-15 rifles, which were converted from fully automatic rifles, and has trained 340 officers to use them.
Chief Burke said the weapons will go in service after the department decides how to rack them in patrol cars, but gave no specific start date.
The Chicago Police Department is making similar plans and the City of Miami Police Department is already using such weapons.
"We need to be equally equipped with the firearms that are being used against the police," said Monique Bond, a Chicago police spokeswoman. "If officers cannot protect themselves, they cannot protect residents."
Last month, Chicago had one of the most violent crime waves in recent history — 36 shootings in which nine people were killed and an AK-47 assault rifle was used to shoot up a plumbing-supply store.
Miami police began giving patrol police assault rifles in September, about a week before a Miami-Dade County officer was killed by a suspect with a high-powered rifle.
Miami Police Executive Assistant Delrish Moss said officials were reluctant to make such a decision but felt it was necessary.
Concerns about D.C. officers using excessive force surfaced after the city lowered standards in police recruiting in 1989 and 1990.
On April 7, the department qualified to end a seven-year, voluntary Justice Department oversight of incidents in which officers used their weapons or other forms of force in the line of duty.
City officers fatally shot 12 people in 1998, and the department led the country in fatal shootings in the 1990s.
However, the number of fatal police-involved shootings was five or fewer each year from 1999 to 2006, according to a report from the D.C. police department.
Last year, eight people were fatally shot by city officers, compared with two in 2006.
City officers fired 219 rounds last year, up from 64 in 2006. The department is now investigating the conduct of two officers who this month were exonerated by federal investigators in the fatal shooting of 14-year-old DeOnte Rawlings, whom they suspected in the theft of a mini-bike.
Ronald Moten, co-founder of the youth-advocacy group Peaceoholics, acknowledged that criminals, including youths, are getting their hands on powerful weapons that "you cannot buy in the store" but said giving police bigger guns will not solve the problem.
"If I was a police officer, I would want to be as equipped as the criminals," he said. "But I don't think it's the answer."
Prince George's County and Montgomery County police representatives said they have seen more powerful weapons used in recent years and have given officers the option to carry assault rifles.
City police did not have statistics yesterday on the types of weapons being used in crimes.
The department's SWAT already has such weapons. A spokesman for the Baltimore Police Department said only SWAT officers have assault rifles because the department has seen mostly handguns used in crime.
"It's a specialized weapon for specialized units," said Officer Troy Harris, a Baltimore police spokesman.
D.C. Council member Jim Graham said he would "be inclined to support" the use of assault rifles because he sees no alternative in the war on guns.
"When the criminals are armed better than the police, there's a problem," said Mr. Graham, Ward 1 Democrat, who last year dealt with hundreds of shootings between rival street gangs in his district. "What are we going to do?"
POLICE SHOOTINGS
A month after being freed from intensive federal monitoring of shooting incidents, D.C. patrol officers will be issued assault rifles to match the increasing firepower of violent criminals.
Year Discharges* People Shot People Killed
1999 34 7 4
2000 20 6 1
2001 29 14 3
2002 24 5 5
2003 28 11 5
2004 28 10 2
2005 23 7 4
2006 13 6 2
2007 31 12 8
* Intentional firing at people [reformatted]
