AGENDA #5j

BUDGET WORKING PAPER

TO:                  W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager

FROM:            Gregg Jarvies, Police Chief

SUBJECT:       Report on Police Department Handgun Replacement Cycle

DATE:             March 30, 2004

The purpose of this memorandum is to respond to a request for information from a Council member regarding the establishment of a replacement plan for the Department’s handgun inventory.

Currently, the Police Department has118 handguns issued to full-time and reserve officers.  The average age of these guns is ten years. Seventeen of the handguns are at least fifteen years old. Seven additional handguns, among the Department’s oldest, are kept as temporary replacements for weapons under repair.

The manufacturer of our weapons recommends that they be replaced every ten years.

The handguns we use cost $500 each.  Our current budget does not support a regular replacement cycle for handguns.  Each year, the Department purchases enough weapons to supply new officers and, if funds are available, to replace a few of the oldest weapons.

We recommend that beginning in FY 2004-05, twenty new handguns be purchased each year for a four-year period at a cost of $10,000 per year.  After this four-year period the replacement cycle would be reduced to ten handguns per year at a cost of $5,000.