WESH TV News, Florida
(Editor’s Note: Verbatim Script From WESH TV Broadcast)
OCALA, Fla. -- Police weapons used to protect and serve have been used to commit robbery, rape, even murder.
Some Agencies Trade Weapons To Save Money A WESH NewsChannel 2 investigation has uncovered what some call a dirty secret among law enforcement officers nationwide.
Firepower is used to stop dangerous criminals in their tracks, but a WESH NewsChannel 2 investigation has uncovered these same weapons used for law and order often end up on the other side of the law in the hands of criminals -- put there indirectly by police through a common but rarely publicized practice. Central Florida police and sheriff’s offices routinely sell their used guns, most often when upgrading their arsenals.
“We are the biggest source ... Just locally, you’ve got thousands and thousands of weapons, which you have to trade in ... so that’s where the weapons come from,” former Gainesville Police Chief Wayland Clifton said.
We discovered local cops have sold or traded in more than 12,000 guns in just the last decade, and it’s all perfectly legal.
“It’s purely economics. As a former police chief for 10-plus years, you recognize you always want your officers to have the latest technology. But since those weapons cost anywhere from $500 to $800 apiece, that was $250,000, so you’ve got to get a buy back, kind of a trade in on your old weapons,” Clifton said.
WESH NewsChannel 2 has learned 76 of those old Central Florida police weapons were later used to commit crimes, assault, robbery, kidnapping, carjacking, international drug trafficking and murder.
“You just don’t know where they are going to appear. Too many of them have appeared in the hands of bad guys committing crimes,” Clifton said.
What Should Be Done With Weapons? What should police do with old weapons? Thank you for participating in our survey. Trade weapons and save money Destroy old weapons A Brazilian-made, .20-gauge shotgun with a wooden stock, serial number 383146, the same gun bought from a Waldorf, Md., sporting goods store by Sarita Coates, the same gun that was pointed at her by her husband, Arthur, in 1997, the same gun Arthur turned on himself and pulled the trigger, is the same gun that in 1996 belonged, according to federal gun records, to the Daytona Beach Police Department.
“Well, we would like more information on it, and if there’s something we could do to prevent, we would look into it, definitely. That’s enough to stop and look into it,” Daytona Beach Police Department spokesman Al Tolley said.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office, with 1,300 officers on the beat, has traded or resold the most guns of any local law enforcement agency during the last decade, nearly 6,000 in all.
“When we upgraded our weapons, like three times in the last 12 years, we’ve always had a deal worked out where we would have them receive the old weapons and provide us with the new ones,” Orange County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Bernie Presha said.
In fact, Orange County saved $153,000 two years ago by trading in 600 handguns for newer models.
“No one wants to see a law enforcement handgun then turned around and used in a crime, but the bottom line is these are pieces of property,” Marion County Sheriff’s Office representative Lenny Uptagraft said.
The second-leading supplier in our area, Marion County, even traded some guns seized in connection with crimes, more than 1,400 guns in all.
“There are a lot of firearms on the market. If someone wants to purchase a firearm through legitimate channels, they’re going to be able to do so, and that doesn’t matter. It doesn’t make any difference what law enforcement does with their firearms,” Uptagraft said.
Critics said the trouble is after the guns are traded to licensed and legitimate gun dealers and law enforcement gives up control.
“The greatest fear of us all, I guess it’s a little bit disingenuous too in that we do not want it to be our weapon that is being used,” Clifton said.
“The protocol is that we wouldn’t do it,” Seminole County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Steve Olson said.
While not criticizing other agencies practices, Seminole County Sheriff’s Office purposely chooses not to trade in its weapons.
“The sheriff and the chief of our agency here say it’s probably better that these things turn into manhole covers than risk the possibility of them falling in the hands of criminals,” Olson said.
Precisely because of cases like the Waldorf shooting, Daytona Beach police had second thoughts and stopped the practice of trading and bartering in 1998.
“The cost return and the liability issues have just made it something that we’re not interested in right now,” Tolley said.
The Daytona Beach Police Department now destroys all its used weapons, but not before putting 728 of them back on the street.
All of this concerns not only critics, but even some cops, who admit by trading, bartering and selling, they’re also contributing to the problem they fight every day, too many guns on the street.
“It is a deal with the devil sometimes. Because as much as I hate the weapons being on the street, I know who put a lot of them there. It was me,” Clifton said.
According to federal records, six murders, 35 assaults, 20 robberies, one kidnapping and one rape, were all traced back to old police weapons from Central Florida.