Santa Ana Police Will Soon Have Assault Rifles

The Santa Ana Police Department has nearly completed its training of patrol officers to use AR-15 assault rifles if they encounter criminals wearing body armor and carrying assault weapons.

The department is one of several across Southern California to invest in more firepower after a 1997 North Hollywood bank robbery in which Los Angeles police officers complained that they were outgunned. During the battle, police ran into a nearby gun store and borrowed rifles to defend themselves against two heavily armed bank robbers.

“We don’t have any other guns in our arsenal that will be able to stop someone wearing body armor,” said Sgt. Anthony Levatino, who is in charge of the training for the Santa Ana department.

The upgrade in weapons comes as crime in Santa Ana and the nation has dropped. In Santa Ana, violent crimes fell 10% from 1996 to 1997, the most recent year for which statistics are available. Crimes on average have dropped 41%.

Even though several police departments in the state have purchased AR-15s, critics say the .223-caliber bullets the gun fires won’t have much effect against heavy body armor.

“It’s better than a handgun, but not much better,” said Ed Peterson, an assault weapons expert with the Santa Clara County district attorney’s crime lab.

The AR-15 is the civilian version of the M-16, which U.S. forces used during the Vietnam War. While the M-16 is automatic, the police version of the AR-15 is semiautomatic, meaning it fires one shot each time the trigger is pulled. The AR-15 takes a 30-round magazine.

In Santa Ana, 43 patrol officers will carry the weapons in the trunks of their squad cars. Another seven weapons will be stored in the department’s armory as spares or for emergencies. The department paid $750 each for the guns, a total of $37,500.

“We may not be required to shoot the weapon, but the presence of it will prevent shootings that could bring harm to the citizenry,” Levatino said.

A big advantage of the AR-15 is that it is far more accurate at a distance than a pistol.

“Rather than having a suspect firing blindly while we’re firing ineffective rounds from a handgun, we will be able to control the situation,” Levatino said.

The City Council unanimously approved the purchase of the assault rifles last year.

Levatino said there have been many instances where AR-15s would have been useful.

One example, he said, took place in Orange last year when a disgruntled Caltrans maintenance worker with several guns killed four people before police fatally wounded him.

After the North Hollywood gun battle, Tustin officials spent $70,200 on weapons and training. In Anaheim, about 50 officers in the SWAT team and another special unit have been trained to use AR-15s against body armor.

“There haven’t been any incidents where we’ve had to use them,” said Sgt. Joe Vargas, the department’s spokesman, “but it’s nice to have the tools to use them if necessary.”

Not everyone is in favor of the additional police firepower. Officials of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California have urged that the issue be studied. The Police Foundation in Washington, D.C., has said the more powerful weapons are larger, harder to handle and, in some instances, less accurate than standard police guns. Some studies have shown that police miss their targets 80% of the time.

Weapons expert Peterson said an AR-15 is efficient at hitting targets beyond 100 yards. But from 200 to 300 yards, he said, police would probably want to use a sniper rifle.

He called the AR-15 “sort of a wimpy gun. Part of it is, the AR-15 looks a little meaner than what it is.”

A salesman at Fowler Gun Room in Orange agreed with Peterson’s evaluation. “It’s all cosmetics,” said the man, who identified himself as Alfred, declining to give his last name. “You can dress up a Toyota to look like Mercedes, but it’s still a Toyota.”

Peterson said the AR-15 fires relatively small bullets at a high speed, but they lose much of their force when smashing against body armor. He said police should use “a nice, big, crushing bullet” that will create a disabling wound, such as broken ribs, when it smashes against the armor.

While it also has AR-15s, the Garden Grove Police Department loads its shotguns with lead slugs that can break ribs even if the person is wearing body armor, Sgt. Steve Sanders said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

More Firepower

The biggest gun Santa Ana patrol officers have traditionally used is a 12-gauge shotgun. Now, some specially trained beat officers will carry AR-15 rifles in their patrol cars. The differences:

COLT AR-15

Range: 300 yards

Firepower: Up to 20 rounds

Ammunition: .223 caliber bullet (3 inches)

*

Shotgun

Range: Less than 100 yards

Firepower: 6 to 8 rounds

Ammunition: 12-gauge .00 buckshot (BBs) (2 3/4 inches)

Source: Santa Ana Police Department

Graphics reporting by BRADY MacDONALD and JASON KANDEL / For the Times