Shootout Triggers Review of Police Arsenals

By BONNIE HAYES and LESLEY WRIGHT

March 31, 1997 12 AM PT

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

After seeing officers outgunned in a bloody North Hollywood bank robbery attempt last month, Tustin City Council members allocated $70,200 for the Police Department to upgrade its arsenal and weapons training.

The money was appropriated quickly, less than three weeks after the shootout.

“I don’t want to go to a funeral of one of our men who got killed because he didn’t have the proper weapons,” Councilman Thomas R. Saltarelli said.

Officials in half a dozen other Orange County cities are reviewing their departments’ arsenals as well, saying they want officers to feel comfortable with their level of protection should it ever be needed.

But the speed with which officials are reacting to the public outrage after the North Hollywood shootout is causing concern in some quarters.

An official of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California said that police departments need to take a cautious approach or risk simply escalating an arms race.

“There needs to be a study to find the difference between the guns, the training of police officers and how often they are retrained,” said Ramona Ripston, executive director of the organization.

“What happens when police miss their targets is they hit bystanders or, often, other police officers are wounded. That is our concern.”

Ripston cited published reports stating that police officers miss the mark 80% of the time they fire their guns. “That statistic is alarming,” she said.

Other groups, including the Police Foundation in Washington, D.C., have warned that the .45-caliber handguns departments are adding to their arsenals are heavy, have a strong kick and are harder to control than more commonly used weapons.

Accuracy may be sacrificed for greater power, the foundation has said.

Indeed, Tustin’s acting police chief, Steven Foster, questioned earlier this month whether the city’s weapons upgrade for his department was really necessary.

“It’s not a demonstrated need,” Foster said of the plan, which will put a semiautomatic rifle in each of the department’s 24 patrol cars.

“We haven’t had an incident in the history of the city where this level of weaponry was needed.”

Finding a place for officers to practice with high-powered rifles is also a challenge, Foster said. The nearest range that will allow the weapons to be fired is at Camp Pendleton, and the training schedule there is full.

“Besides that, we have to write new training policies and procedures addressing the new gear,” Foster said. “We have to outline the rules on when an officer can shoot that weapon, much less take it out of the car.”

In the wake of the North Hollywood incident, however, several law enforcement agencies, including the Anaheim, Cypress and Garden Grove police departments and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, are considering upgrades.

In Garden Grove, a weapons review is underway, along with a study of options such as pepper spray and batons.

Police Chief Stan Knee said any suggestions by the committee to upgrade weapons will be accompanied by specific training proposals.

“A lot of things need to be considered before you let your department go stocking up on guns,” Knee said. “I don’t believe these kinds of decisions should be made without a very careful, in-depth review.”

In Anaheim, where at least 50 officers already have access to semiautomatic or fully automatic rifles, police may start testing new rounds of armor-piercing shotgun ammunition.

Capt. Marc Hedgpeth said officials may also start issuing to every officer ammunition that can “dramatically extend” a shotgun’s typical range of 30 yards or less.

“We’re basically much better armed than a lot of departments,” Hedgpeth said. “We don’t have semiautomatic rifles for everyone, but it would just be too costly in terms of training for us to do that.”

But most police officials agree that such technicalities are insignificant compared with the potential benefits.

Anaheim’s Hedgpeth said officers are more confident knowing they are well equipped to deal with violent situations.

“It’s common sense that performance will be better,” Hedgpeth said. “Not just having the rifle but also the knowledge of how to employ it is a confidence booster.”

Foster said he has seen an increase in morale among Tustin officers since the City Council allocated the money to upgrade weapons and armor.

“If nothing else, it’s made our officers feel supported by the people they serve,” Foster said. “That goes a long way.”