Florida Thugs Getting the Best Weapons That Money Can Buy...

...And the taxpayers are paying for them:

Florida Criminals Target Police for Weapons

quote:

Despite the risk, criminals are hitting police cruisers in South Florida and across the country for a reason: Most police cars are mini-armories on wheels. Cars store not only high-powered guns but also bullet-resistant jackets, "stop sticks" to pierce tires of fleeing cars and other devices to combat the firepower of dangerous career criminals...

... In May, a .223-caliber automatic assault rifle and a 12-gauge shotgun were stolen from the trunk of an unmarked police car in Frederick, Md. Two rifles were also stolen from the patrol cars of Orlando officers in January. A gun stolen from a car belonging to a Martin County Sheriff's Office deputy in 2006 was used by a 17-year-old, who accidentally shot a 16-year-old in Port St. Lucie.

I think one of the problems, is that there will always be those who will try to modify the procedures, and therefore department protocol for securing a weapon will not always be followed as specified. In the past locally, there have been incidents where officers changing tires have left weapons on the roadside, weapons have fallen out of open trunks, and SWAT weapons were stolen from a parked vehicle. No one wants to be on the receiving end of someone discharging an AR-15/5.56, an H&K UMP-45, or an H&K G3 ripping 7.62, especially when the weapon was purchased with taxpayer dollars. Maybe the departments need to have an additional alarm on the vehicle/weapon(s) that is tied to a beeper system so that the officer is alerted if there is a breach of the vehicle, and use an implanted GPS device to track the weapon's location once it is stolen.

Due to the current trend of criminals specifically targeting law enforcement for weapons, maybe there also needs to be new guidelines implemented that all LE weapons must be stored in a department issued safe when in the home. The safes should be GPS locatable as well, using the same technology as they do to track money packets stolen from banks these days. If the weapons are secured in a safe, it will slow the criminals down in accessing them, and give the authorities time to locate them via GPS before they are used in a crime. There is no easy solution, because there will always be the human factor, and those who believe that the rules do not apply to them.

Make sure you read the complete article, and it should be noted that there was another incident of a weapons theft from a law enforcement officer's vehicle last night.