Sebring Police Adding Rifle To Arsenal

SEBRING - City police were gearing up Friday for a weekend of training on the newest addition to its arsenal, the Bushmaster AR-15 auto-loading semi-automatic rifle.

Police need to keep up with arms available to the bad guys.

"You see so many cases now where the criminals have high-powered rifles and the officers are out-gunned," said Sebring Police Cmdr. Steve Carr. "We want to give our officers the best equipment and be able to react quickly and appropriately to any given situation."

The weapons have already been assigned out, Carr said.

"They're just not allowed to use them until they're trained and certified in the use of that weapon," he said.

Carr said there was a recent case where a private citizen had similar rifle stolen. And that weapon is still out there, he said.

Situations in which such a weapon would be deployed included service of a search warrant or a felony traffic stop where police believe a criminal may be armed, Carr said.

Law Enforcement Trust Fund
A fair portion of the nearly $10,000 spent on 12 of the .223 caliber rifles that came with 30-round magazines comes directly from the Law Enforcement Trust Fund, said Carr.

"That's money seized from criminal cases," he added. "A portion came from in-house money, from the operating budget."

The decision came with unanimous approval from the Sebring City Council.

"Any time Law Enforcement Trust Funds are spent, we get City Council approval," Carr said. "No one opposed it. I believe it was on the consent agenda."

So far the department has 12 rifles, but as the Law Enforcement Trust Fund and the budget allows, plans are to buy more.

"Gradually as the budget allows, each officer will be assigned one," Carr said.

The department has 36 sworn positions. Three of those are frozen at present.

"We depleted our Law Enforcement Trust Fund significantly when we bought the tasers," he said.
The rifle fires a round slightly larger than a .22 caliber bullet.

"It's not a great big round, but it is a military-type round," Carr said.

Training Is Important
Sebring Police Sgt. Mike Warner has fired one of these rifles before and liked it.

"It has no kick what-so-ever," Warner said. "We qualified a few months ago and another officer has one exactly like it. We got to shoot it a couple of times. We start a two-day class tomorrow to get a little more familiar and a little more proficient with the weapon."

The firearms class is being offered by South Florida Community College's Public Service Academy at the Highlands County Sheriff's firing range, and will be taught by Richard Morey, the academy's coordinator of law enforcement programs.

The school will include Sebring police officers as well as students from a few other agencies, Morey said Friday.

The course will begin today with indoor classroom and will follow with hands-on use of the weapon, including zeroing it in (making sure when they aim the sight at something, that's were the bullet goes) and fitting it to the individual using its adjustable stock.

Sunday will include tactical range exercises, Morey said.

This is not the same weapon used by the military.

"It is a law enforcement-grade weapon, Morey said. "It's not going to shoot through the side of a house like some people may think, unless you hit the window."

You still have to pull the trigger one round at a time, he said.

"This is not about firepower," Morey said. "It increases the distance from the officer to the threat. It's an accurate weapon and it doesn't take a heap of training."

It doesn't matter what an officer shoots.

"It's where you put the bullet," he said. "If you miss, it doesn't matter if it's a large gun or a small gun."

Society, the courts, as well as the officers themselves would prefer not to have rounds going anywhere other than where they are aimed, he said.