http://www.pennlive.com/patriotnews...ase/news/11997690104290.xml&coll=1&thispage=1
Apparently the police in Duncannon 'are not professional enough' to use rifles. After all, the bullets will go through several buildings.
*Emphasis mine.Council, mayor feud over high-powered police rifles
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
BY JOE ELIAS
Of The Patriot-News
DUNCANNON - The Borough Council doesn't know why Duncannon's police department owns two high-powered semiautomatic assault rifles or who purchased them.
The council decided in 2001 that officers would provide their own weapons after a handgun was stolen from the police station.
"At the time, the decision was made that if council couldn't secure them, they wouldn't own them," Councilman Michael Fedor said.
In November 2007, some council members learned they had purchased two AR-15 assault weapons for $1,644 and a 12-gauge shotgun for $511.
A special council committee has determined the two military-style rifles and shotgun were bought from Witmer Associates Inc. of Chester County in September 2005.
However, it hasn't learned who orchestrated the purchase. The receipts were presented to the council mixed with other police purchases and supplies marked "capital purchases," the committee found.
The bills said nothing about such weapons.
"I missed it," President Duane Hammaker said.
Council members said the purchase of the guns was not part of the 2007 budget and the council never discussed buying them.
The council then directed Mayor Kraig Nace to take the weapons out of service and sell them.
But Nace said he has not sold the weapons and would not unless he receives legal advice that he should do so. He said the weapons are locked in a vault in the police station, and he noted that security there has greatly improved.
While some council members worried about liability issues if the weapons were stolen, Nace said there were larger concerns, such as officer safety.
"The liability of losing a life is much greater," Nace said.
The council showed little concern Monday night about determining who solicited the bids for the guns. Members of the special committee said the bids had to have been solicited by a borough employee or a borough official.
The debate at Monday night's meeting centered around whether the borough should keep the guns and allow them to be used.
"I didn't think they were needed in the borough," Hammaker said.
Councilman Michael Bomberger said the issue shouldn't be "de-arming" the police, but deciding what equipment is needed.
Bomberger noted that if the weapons were fired in the borough, the bullets would be powerful enough to go through several buildings.
Councilman John Conrad said he was uncomfortable with how the council handled the matter of ordering the mayor to sell the guns.
"I want to have a conversation with the mayor and the police on why we need them," Conrad said.
The council is expected to address the issue of making the mayor sell the weapons at its Jan. 15 meeting.
Nace and police department members are expected to attend that meeting.
Apparently the police in Duncannon 'are not professional enough' to use rifles. After all, the bullets will go through several buildings.
