By Kris Pisarik
The Lowell Sun
LOWELL, Mass. - Lowell police are asking for the public’s help in locating a missing -- and most likely unloaded -- .40-caliber Beretta after a veteran officer apparently misplaced the handgun over the weekend.
Acting Police Superintendent Kenneth Lavallee yesterday called the gun’s misplacement a “serious breach of protocol.”
“It’s a fundamental responsibility of every police officer to safeguard their weapon,” Lavallee said, adding that the incident is the subject of an ongoing internal-affairs investigation by his department.
He declined to name the officer.
Lavallee said that based on information provided by the officer, the gun is not believed to be loaded. The officer believes he emptied the gun at his locker before the gun went missing. But he stressed that police can’t be 100 percent certain of that, and urged anyone coming across the weapon not to touch it, to treat it as if it were loaded. They should also immediately call Lowell police at (978) 937-3200.
Lavallee said whoever finds the weapon can remain anonymous if they wish.
He declined to comment at length about his department’s investigation into the missing weapon, but said it appears to be a case of “inattention to detail” by the officer. The officer has not been issued another weapon at this point and is not on patrol duty, but Lavallee said no disciplinary has been taken at this point.
The officer last saw his weapon after he finished working a private detail last Friday. The officer did not work a regular shift that day.
Lavallee said he didn’t know the site of the detail.
When the officer returned to work Sunday, he was on desk duty and didn’t realize his weapon was missing until the end of his shift, Lavallee said. He immediately reported it missing at that point.
COpyright 2007 The Lowell Sun