HILO — Put down that six-shooter, pardner. Your day is done.
HILO — Put down that six-shooter, pardner. Your day is done.
The Hawaii Police Department is going the way of many federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, and exchanging officers’ clunky old Smith & Wessons for sleek, new Glock 9 mm semiautomatic handguns.
“The days of the revolver are over for law enforcement,” said Lt. Thomas Shopay III, a member of the department’s tactical unit.
The Smith & Wesson 5906 was last manufactured in 1999. It’s a good gun, but replacement parts in any quantity are getting harder and harder to find.
“We knew this day was coming; we just didn’t know when it would be,” said county Finance Director Deanna Sako on Monday, as the Standardization Committee unanimously approved making the Glock models 17 and 19 the new standard for the police force.
The Model 17 will be for uniformed police, the more compact Model 19 for plainclothes and undercover officers.
The department tested a variety of handguns, including .40-caliber and .45-caliber pistols, before choosing the 9 mm Glock, said Police Chief Harry Kubojiri. The more lightweight 9 mm doesn’t produce that hard kickback that makes it more difficult to quickly regain an aim at the target, police say. Plus, the smaller Glocks are a better fit for smaller officers’ hands.
He told the Police Commission last week that new handguns are desperately needed.
“We are unbundling guns just to get the pieces to fix the ones we have,” Kubojiri said.
The department has added $30,000 to the new budget that begins Friday to begin phasing in the new guns. Officials hope to buy 100 of them, at an estimate of about $400 each.
The department has a $65 million annual budget and 735 civilian and sworn positions.
The guns will first go to the recruits, who will learn on the new Glocks right from the get-go, Shopay said. More experienced officers will get them as the old guns continue to wear down and get phased out.
County Purchasing Agent Jeffrey Dansdill made sure there were several places to buy the guns from, rather than having to go with a sole-source contract. Instead, the gun purchase can go out to bid.
“Are there multiple vendors we can purchase from?” he asked.
He was told there are three West Coast mainland sources for the handguns, all who offer rebates.
Unlike the Honolulu Police Department, the Hawaii County department plans to turn in the old Smith & Wessons to the dealer for a rebate. That should earn about $90,000, Shopay said.
The Honolulu Police Department incurred public criticism last year when it opted to destroy more than 2,300 guns, potentially losing $500,000, according to Hawaii News Now.
Department officials in Honolulu were concerned the guns could end up on the street. Shopay told the Standardization Committee that the guns would be resold or used for parts by the vendor.
“This is a way to get the firearms off our books,” he said.