PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. (WCAX) – The Plattsburgh Police Department has had submachine guns since 2006. At one time, they were carried by patrol officers but now, city officials are looking at getting rid of them all together.
“I wanted to clean out old inventory that was no longer in use,” Plattsburgh Police Lt. Joshua Pond said.
Pond says they have 14 semi- and fully automatic UMP40s that haven’t been in use since they were taken off the streets five years ago.
“There’s a call for demilitarization of police. I believe Common Council at the time directed Chief Ritter at the time to remove them, remove the service from the road of those full machine guns,” Pond said.
In December, Pond crafted a proposal to the Common Council that would have sold the guns to Sikh Arms to be used in a swap with another police department for new patrol rifles. If approved, the guns would have been dismantled with only their parts being sold, worth around $7,000. It’s a move Pond says would take away guns he believes are a liability for the department.
“On the street, should we have an officer-involved shooting and the officer in a panic pushes it all the way to auto, then we have rounds going everywhere into the public and I rather have that not that as a possibility in the future,” he said.
But the council didn’t approve it, deciding to wait instead.
“We do need patrol rifles. So, that would be the trade,” said Mayor Wendell Hughes, D-Plattsburgh.
Hughes says it’s something he wants to revisit with councilors at some point this year.
“My conversations with them is let’s look at all of the options we have. Maybe we can go back to Colt. I think Colt is the manufacturer of those guns and sometimes we get a better manufacturer,” the mayor said.
But until that happens, the guns will remain locked away, collecting dust at the Plattsburgh Police Department.
