Shelby deputies get semiautomatic rifles
Monday, January 17, 2005
MALCOMB DANIELS
News staff writer
The Shelby County Sheriff's Department has bought 100 semiautomatic rifles and is issuing them to its personnel.
The AR-15 rifles will be provided to all patrol deputies as well as investigators and administrators who go out on emergency calls, Sheriff Chris Curry said.
The purchase coincides with the Alabama State Troopers' and Birmingham Police Department's acquisition of the same type of weapons, but Shelby County isn't following their lead.
"This process was started about a year and a half ago," Curry said. "I felt like it was a need we had to address."
The sheriff said the rifles will give his deputies the same kind of firepower they have been encountering for some time.
The first round of training and issuing has begun and should last about two weeks, Curry said.
The department expects to issue 65 to 70 of the rifles right away, he said. The rest will be issued later, following a second round of training.
The rifles will be equipped with a hologram-type sighting mechanism to provide better accuracy.
The sight, which the officer can use without having to squint an eye, provides a lighted image of the target that can be seen in the dark, Curry said.
The Sheriff's Department has a policy on the use of the rifles, but Chief Deputy John Samaniego said the decision to use them will be left "pretty much up to the discretion of the deputies."
The policy notes a few instances in which use of the rifles is appropriate, but deputies won't be limited to those situations, Samaniego said. They include:
When a suspect is confronting law enforcement with a higher-powered weapon than the handguns generally used by deputies.
In standoff situations.
While conducting activities such as searches in rural or mountainous areas.
Deputies are receiving training on everything from nomenclature of the weapon to how to clean it and store it, Samaniego said.
"We hope it will enhance the citizens of Shelby County in their safety," he said.
Curry said the Shelby County Commission supported the move and provided funding for the weapons.
The sheriff said his people have encountered criminals with everything from inexpensive SKS rifles to expensive deer rifles.
Curry said the SKS has become prevalent, especially where methamphetamine labs have been found.
Until now, Shelby deputies were equipped with pistols and shotguns. Curry said the shotguns are being converted to fire nonlethal beanbags.
Whether to give law enforcement AR-15 rifles has been a hot topic of discussion in Birmingham over the past few weeks.
This summer, three Birmingham police officers were killed with an SKS rifle.
Mayor Bernard Kincaid said last week he would approve giving officers the weapons, but with stringent guidelines.
Alabama Public Safety Director Mike Coppage announced last week that his department has bought 100 AR-15 rifles to be used by troopers.
Coppage said he hopes eventually to get the weapons for all 330 of his patrol troopers.
