FEAR-List Bulletin - 5/5/95 - Police Department Rearms with Forfeiture Funds

Newsclipping summary:

Police Department Is Rearming With Forfeiture Fund $$$

FEAR-List Bulletin posted by Kathy Bergman, 5/5/95

The San Jose, California, Mercury News reported that the San Jose Police Department is rearming with Swiss-made semiautomatic guns that hold more bullets and are more reliable than current pistols issued to officers.

The money to finance the department's purchase of 500 Sig-Suer semiautomatic guns, magazines and holsters ($327,000.00) is coming from the state's drug forfeiture fund.

Deputy Chief Walt Adkins said the department hopes to buy an additional 700 guns with state or federal drug-asset seizure funds. He added that San Jose's move to higher-capacity guns mirrors a nationwide trend in law enforcement that began in the late 1980s with the proliferation of criminals obtaining automatic and semiautomatic guns.

Patrol officers will be the first to receive the new guns, Adkins said.