Looks like there's an arms race in the sunshine state. Lovely! How will it end? Tactical nukes?? 
jwm
September 17, 2007
Miami Police Given Choice of Carrying Assault Rifles
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MIAMI, Sept. 16 (AP) — Patrol officers here will have the option of carrying assault rifles as they try to combat the rise in the use of similar weapons by criminals, the city’s police chief said Sunday.
The chief, John F. Timoney, approved the policy last week, before a Miami-Dade police officer was killed on Thursday in a shootout with a man wielding an assault rifle.
“This is something we do not do with any relish,” Chief Timoney said. “We do this reluctantly.”
The policy had been under review for about a year after officers began seeing an increase in the weapons in the hands of criminals, the chief said.
Officers interested in the guns will have to undergo two days of training and be certified in their use. The Police Department does not yet have money to buy the assault rifles, and if officers want to use them immediately they will have to pay for them, Chief Timoney said.
Years ago, law enforcement specialists like SWAT teams were the only officers to carry assault weapons, but now even some small town police agencies are arming officers with the AR-15, a civilian version of the military M-16 rifle.
Patrol officers in Danbury, Conn., have been allowed to carry the weapons since 2003. Police departments in Merced, Calif., and Waterloo, Iowa, have put them in all patrol vehicles for several years. In Stillwater, Okla., about 70 miles west of Tulsa, every patrol officer is issued an AR-15.
Officers in Los Angeles have been equipped with the weapons since a 1997 gunfight outside a bank where police officers were out-gunned by a man armed with an AK-47. Officers in that situation had to go to a nearby gun store to get high-velocity weapons.
Chief Timoney said it had become apparent over the last year that Miami officers needed the option of more powerful weapons.
The Miami Police Department said 15 of its 79 homicides last year involved assault weapons. This year, 12 of the 60 homicides have involved the high-power guns.
In the shooting on Thursday, a man opened fire on four Miami-Dade County police officers with an assault rifle during a traffic stop, killing one of the officers and injuring the other three. Police killed the man hours later.
Officers using the weapons in Miami will shoot bullets designed to shatter after they have hit something to avoid striking bystanders or other unintended targets.
Not all officers may choose to carry the new weapon. But Chief Timoney said, “If I was a police officer out there in a tough neighborhood, I would want to have that in the car.”
jwm
September 17, 2007
Miami Police Given Choice of Carrying Assault Rifles
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MIAMI, Sept. 16 (AP) — Patrol officers here will have the option of carrying assault rifles as they try to combat the rise in the use of similar weapons by criminals, the city’s police chief said Sunday.
The chief, John F. Timoney, approved the policy last week, before a Miami-Dade police officer was killed on Thursday in a shootout with a man wielding an assault rifle.
“This is something we do not do with any relish,” Chief Timoney said. “We do this reluctantly.”
The policy had been under review for about a year after officers began seeing an increase in the weapons in the hands of criminals, the chief said.
Officers interested in the guns will have to undergo two days of training and be certified in their use. The Police Department does not yet have money to buy the assault rifles, and if officers want to use them immediately they will have to pay for them, Chief Timoney said.
Years ago, law enforcement specialists like SWAT teams were the only officers to carry assault weapons, but now even some small town police agencies are arming officers with the AR-15, a civilian version of the military M-16 rifle.
Patrol officers in Danbury, Conn., have been allowed to carry the weapons since 2003. Police departments in Merced, Calif., and Waterloo, Iowa, have put them in all patrol vehicles for several years. In Stillwater, Okla., about 70 miles west of Tulsa, every patrol officer is issued an AR-15.
Officers in Los Angeles have been equipped with the weapons since a 1997 gunfight outside a bank where police officers were out-gunned by a man armed with an AK-47. Officers in that situation had to go to a nearby gun store to get high-velocity weapons.
Chief Timoney said it had become apparent over the last year that Miami officers needed the option of more powerful weapons.
The Miami Police Department said 15 of its 79 homicides last year involved assault weapons. This year, 12 of the 60 homicides have involved the high-power guns.
In the shooting on Thursday, a man opened fire on four Miami-Dade County police officers with an assault rifle during a traffic stop, killing one of the officers and injuring the other three. Police killed the man hours later.
Officers using the weapons in Miami will shoot bullets designed to shatter after they have hit something to avoid striking bystanders or other unintended targets.
Not all officers may choose to carry the new weapon. But Chief Timoney said, “If I was a police officer out there in a tough neighborhood, I would want to have that in the car.”
