Stamford force gets Smith & Wesson models
By Jeff Morganteen, Staff Writer
Posted: 01/22/2009 09:49:04 PM EST
Stamford police get new guns - Topix
STAMFORD -- About 80 percent of the members of the city police force have been outfitted with new firearms since they began being phased in earlier this winter, and officers are training on them in the department's firing range.
The Police Department's nearly 280 officers are trading in their Austrian-made Glock 21s, a 45-caliber handgun, for new Smith & Wesson Military and Police models, a newer firearm equipped with an interchangeable grip, light-rail and open-chamber indicator.
After using the Glocks for nearly a decade, the department sought a new weapon for its officers.
Officer Scott Kendall and Officer Vito Sileo, the department's head armorer, were charged with selecting the new weapons, and they picked the Smith & Wesson from several other firearms, said Sgt. Tom Wolff, firearms supervisor.
"We fired thousands and thousands of rounds and put it through torture tests," said Kendall, head firearms instructor for the department. "It has to be reliable."
Kendall and Sileo attended an armory school, tested weapons in different conditions and interviewed various law enforcement agencies for their own take on the firearms.
Wolff, who spent five years in the U.S. Army Special Forces, said the police department offset the cost of the firearm upgrade by selling the old Glocks back to the manufacturer. The other option was to refurbish the weapons at $130 per gun, he said.
Police spokesman Lt. Sean Cooney said the department bought the new firearms at a much lower rate but would not disclose details about the deal with Smith & Wesson.
Officers train at the range in the basement of the police department. The range is a 16-yard-long room with a gray floor littered with shell casings. During training, officers aim at four fixed targets that resemble cartoon-like bad guys.
"Most of the public's knowledge about firearms is from make-believe TV shows and movies," Wolff said. "It's very far from the truth."
Firearms training includes stationary target practice as well as "force-on-force" exercises, which feature combat scenarios and weapons loaded with fake, non-lethal bullets, Wolff said, explaining how officers must learn how their bodies react to the stress of combat situations.
In a small room next to the range, Sileo and Kendall help officers clean grease, grime and dirt from their new firearms to make sure they work reliably.
While past police shootings in New York City have raised questions about the use of deadly force by officers, Kendall said, "We're forced to make split-second decisions and sometimes we're forced to live with mistakes."
Stamford police last shot an armed suspect in January 2008, when police said a 16-year-old Westhill High School student, Carlos Rodriguez, chased a woman around an apartment armed with a knife. When officers told him to drop the knife, he refused and an officer shot him.
Police also shot Anthony Almeida, who sprayed downtown Stamford with gunfire in April 2006. Officers found Almeida at Atlantic and Bank streets and ordered him to drop his handgun, but he refused and turned it toward police, who shot him once in the shoulder.
Both suspects survived, and the two officers were commended for their actions.
-- Staff Writer Jeff Morganteen can be reached at jeff.morganteen@scni.com or 964-2215.