Proposal Would Let Officers Keep Guns

Police Chief Richard F. Thomas will ask the City Council on Monday to adopt a new policy that allows certain police officers to keep their duty weapons after they leave the department.

The policy would apply only to officers who retire honorably or leave the department after 25 years of service.

Officers who retire or leave the department after 10 years of service would be given the option of purchasing the gun at fair market value.

“It is often the only tool that an officer can count on, as a last resort, to protect their life or the lives of others,” Thomas wrote in a report to the City Council. “The duty weapon becomes a symbol of the years of service to which the officer has devoted their career.”

If the resolution is approved, the program would apply retroactively to five honorably retired officers, Thomas said.