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:
A. 
Promptly notify the superior officer on duty in the command of such occurrence.
B. 
Submit reports as required by Department order.
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. 
Loss of the official police weapon through carelessness or neglect shall be deemed a serious violation of Department regulations.
B. 
No member shall lend his official police weapon to another member or any person for any purpose.
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.