Departmental regulations concerning the care
and use of firearms are designed to protect the lives of police officers
and the lives and property of the public.
Police officers shall exercise caution and the
utmost care in handling firearms on and off duty.
[Amended 12-18-1979 by Ord. No. 79-14]
The official police weapon shall be the weapon
issued to each police officer by the Department or his own personal
weapon, provided that such personal weapon must be approved by the
Police Chief and must be certified to be in good working condition
every other year by a person with the necessary qualifications to
issue said certification.
The Chief of Police may authorize a police officer
to carry an off-duty weapon other than the official police weapon,
provided that the police officer follows the steps prescribed herewith:
A.
All members shall submit their off-duty weapon to
the officer in charge of the firearms section for approval. The weapon
will be subject to the same standards for safety and serviceability
as apply to the official police weapon.
B.
During the member's qualification with the official
police weapon, he will submit his off-duty weapon for test fire and
inspection.
C.
He shall submit for inspection to the superior officer
in charge of firearms training the off-duty weapon that he intends
to carry, in order to determine whether it meets the same standards
for safety and serviceability as apply to the official police weapon.
D.
He shall observe and be bound by any part of or any
section of these rules and regulations which pertain to the official
police weapon, and he shall understand that these same rules and regulations
also apply to the use of any off-duty weapon which may be authorized
by the Chief of Police.
Police officers who carry and employ weapons
other than those that have been inspected and approved by the Police
Department shall be subject to disciplinary action.
All repairs and adjustments to the official
police-duty weapon shall be made by a qualified gunsmith. Officers
shall not make any change in the trigger pull or effect any other
unauthorized alteration or addition. Grip adapters and combat-type
grips may be used, but only after the officer has first obtained the
approval of the officer in charge of the firearms section.
A police officer shall keep his weapon in a
secure place, readily available in case of emergency.
When removing a weapon from his person, a police
officer shall keep it holstered and jointly remove both the weapon
and holster from his belt. A police officer shall not remove the weapon
from its holster except when he intends to clean or fire it. However,
when circumstances require, a police officer may unload his weapon
before storing it in a secure place, provided that he observes all
the safe practices prescribed and taught by authorized Department
firearms instructors for the unloading of the weapon.
Whenever a firearm is discharged by a police
officer, either in the performance of police duty or accidentally,
the police officer shall:
Examples of instances in which firearms shall
not be discharged are cases involving:
A.
The commission of a misdemeanor.
B.
A violation of any Borough ordinance.
C.
A violation of the Disorderly Persons Act.
D.
A violation of the Motor Vehicle Act.
E.
A fleeing motor vehicle when the occupant is known
by the officer to be a minor offender and is not wanted by the authorities
for a grave high misdemeanor.
F.
A person called to halt on mere suspicion and who,
without resisting, simply runs or drives away to avoid arrest; neither
shall a police officer shoot at a person who is running or driving
away to avoid arrest for a minor offense.
G.
Warning shots of any nature.
A police officer may discharge his firearm in
the performance of police duty under the following restrictive circumstances:
A.
In the actual defense of his own life or the life
of another when other reasonable means of defense have failed.
B.
When attacked with a deadly weapon.
C.
When effecting the arrest or preventing the escape
of a person who, to the personal knowledge of the officer, has actually
committed a crime of no lesser degree than heinous common law felony
and there is no other way of taking him into custody.
D.
When in attendance at an approved firing range.
Members will be permitted to carry their service
weapons or authorized off-duty weapons at the discretion of the Chief
of Police and shall carry said weapons when traveling to and from
work. When carrying a weapon, it shall be in a serviceable, operating
condition so that the member will be prepared when called upon to
carry out a police duty, service function or responsibility. Police
officers who are suspended or whose weapons have been officially taken
from them for other reasons shall not carry a weapon under any circumstances.
Male officers in uniform shall carry their weapons
in holsters attached to their uniform belts or to supplementary belts
beneath the blouses or overcoats when these garments are worn. Detectives
and other police officers not in uniform shall carry their weapons
in authorized holsters. Policewomen in uniform shall carry the weapon
in the regulation holster handbag. When in plain clothes, they shall
carry their weapons securely but readily accessible for use.
A.
The initial issue and the replacement of ammunition
for Department weapons shall be made by the Department without expense
to the police officer. The Department shall replace rounds of ammunition
that have become unserviceable and rounds that have been expended
in the line of police duty. Only Department-issued ammunition shall
be used.
B.
During the annual firearms qualification, each officer
will expend the ammunition currently in his weapon and replace it
with ammunition carried in his ammunition pouch. This in turn will
be replaced by new ammunition so that at no time will any ammunition
carried by the officer be more than two years old.
