Posted: 4/4/2007 7:25:24 AM EDT
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Some Dallas police want more powerful rifle bullets After officer's death, concern raised about plastic-tipped rounds 08:37 AM CDT on Wednesday, April 4, 2007 By TANYA EISERER / The Dallas Morning News [email protected] Some Dallas patrol officers are complaining that they don't have the right bullets for their AR-15 rifles. Their concerns were prompted by the March 23 slaying of Senior Cpl. Mark Nix after he rushed up to a Chevrolet Caprice that he believed contained a murder suspect. When other patrol officers fired AR-15 rifle rounds at the windows of the Caprice, the plastic-tipped rounds penetrated the windows, but the bullets fragmented upon entry into the car. That's exactly what the rounds were meant to do, said Deputy Chief Floyd Simpson, who supervises the pistol range. Currently, the Police Department issues plastic-tipped rounds for its roughly 300 AR-15 rifles used by patrol officers. Plastic-tipped rounds are designed to fragment upon entering a target. But some officers want to be issued metal-tipped rounds – what are commonly known as "full metal jacket" bullets – which do not fragment upon hitting a target. Full metal jacket rounds continue along their trajectory after they penetrate thicker surfaces such as some windows, doors or a person's body. "I just can't put those type of rounds in an everyday officer's rifle and think that I am legitimately taking care of the community," Chief Simpson said. The concern is that an officer may fire an AR-15 at an intended target and the bullet would travel too far, striking an innocent victim. Senior Cpl. Michael Pottorff, president of the Dallas Fraternal Order of Police, said he wants to raise the issue with Police Chief David Kunkle. He said he's not saying that giving officers full metal jacket rounds is the answer, but he wants to see if there's another type of ammunition that could be added to the patrol arsenal. "I'm not saying that the round we have is a bad round," Cpl. Pottorff said. Senior Cpl. Glenn White, president of the Dallas Police Association, said, "I think we should be concerned that the equipment that we've got is basically useless under certain circumstances and conditions." John Merito, manager of DFW Gun Range, said full metal jacket rounds should only be used in very tightly controlled situations. "If they're going to be spraying and praying, then you're going to have a bunch of loose bullets flying all over the place that ricochet and then ricochet until it hits something solid," Mr. Merito said. "In between ricocheting and bouncing around, it could hit" an innocent bystander. The department's tactical officers have been issued the full metal jacket rounds, Chief Simpson said. |
Is there any reason they can't carry both types of ammo? It's not like they carry the rifle loaded in the cruiser anyway, so it's not a matter of unloading and reloading for different situations.
ETA: The dept. needs a new spokesman who doesn't make them all look like idiots. |
