City cops packing new heat
Date: Jan 26, 2007 10:53 AM
PUBLICATION: Belleville Intelligencer (ON)
DATE: 2007.01.26
SECTION: Local
PAGE: 4
BYLINE: Jeremy Ashley
WORD COUNT: 252

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City cops packing new heat

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Belleville police will be carrying new firearms in the coming months.

During the police service board’s meeting, Thursday, members approved a
recommendation made by Deputy Chief Brian Harder to purchase 90 Glock 17
handguns for $47,466 in a “rent-to-own” financing plan over a three-year
period. That translates into a cost of $15,822 per year. The holsters
for the weapons will be bought outright for $6,750.

Two years ago, the current firearm of choice for the city police service
- the Beretta 96D – was phased out of production, leading to
difficulties in obtaining replacement parts over the past year, Harder
said in his report.

“We have a number of handguns in our possession that are not
functional,” he said, adding that in order to fall within the training
period for the service, the guns would have to be ordered as soon as
possible.

Last year, Harder had an officer co-ordinate testing of three Glock
models over a two-month period by 58 members of the Belleville Police
Service, all of whom unanimously chose the Glock G 17 9mm handgun.

The majority of police services across the province have moved to a
Glock pistol over the past decade, he added.

To put the purchase price in context, Harder presented numbers from the
1994 police budget, when the service bought 77 Beretta 96D handguns,
including holsters for a cost of $77,966.

Police Chief Steve Tanner said there were some safety issues associated
with having two firearms in use by the service at the same time -
especially given all officers would have to be trained on the use of
both weapons.

The Second Amendment IS Homeland Security !