Fiscal Note
This program will be administered in a manner similar to the handgun purchase program. The City will purchase the rifles and be reimbursed by the commissioned employees through payroll deductions. The initial purchase will cost about $100,000. There is sufficient funding in the General Fund balance for this program.
Title
Establishing a voluntary rifle purchase program that would allow commissioned employees to voluntarily purchase department-approved rifles for on-duty use, utilize the department’s bulk purchasing power to order the rifles, and establish a two (2) year repayment mechanism by which the cost of the rifle would be recovered through fifty-two (52) equal deductions taken from the employee’s paycheck.
Body
WHEREAS, the Madison Police Department currently owns one hundred forty-two (142) AR-15 rifles, with twenty-one (21) assigned to the training team and one hundred twenty-one (121) assigned to patrol; and
WHEREAS, the Department assigns the patrol rifles on a shared basis within patrol operations by installing rifles in all “patrol ready” fleet vehicles; and
WHEREAS, before being deployed into fleet vehicles, these rifles are sighted by a precision marksman, resulting in a well-sighted rifle, that does not account for the many variables associated with firing a shoulder-mounted weapon (e.g., facial configuration, arm length, etc.); and
WHEREAS, because these variables may affect the accuracy of the universally sighted rifles, the Department has determined that it should transition to personally assigned rifles; and
WHEREAS, the Department surveyed its commissioned personnel and determined that - should such an opportunity exist, fifty-nine (59) officers were prepared to purchase their own rifles and forty-six (46) officers would strongly consider the opportunity, and
WHEREAS, the Department currently utilizes a similar paycheck deduction system for the purchase of an officer’s Glock handgun whereby the Department purchases the ...
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