Big Isle police set to strap on new handguns
HILO >> The Hawaii County Police Department will start phasing out its older weapons as officers get ready to receive new 9 mm semiautomatic handguns.
Officials approved making the guns the new standard for the department Monday. Officers have been using a Smith & Wesson model that was last manufactured in 1999, making replacement parts increasingly difficult to find, West Hawaii Today reported Tuesday.
“The days of the revolver are over for law enforcement,” said Lt. Thomas Shopay III, a member of the department’s tactical unit.
The decision comes after Police Chief Harry Kubojiri stressed to the Police Commission last week that new handguns were desperately needed.
“We are unbundling guns just to get the pieces to fix the ones we have,” Kubojiri said.
A variety of handguns, including .40-caliber and .45-caliber pistols, were tested before the department settled on the 9 mm Glock, Kubojiri said. Police say the lighter 9 mm doesn’t produce a hard kick that makes it harder to quickly regain an aim at the target.
The department has added $30,000 to begin phasing in the new weapons, which cost about $400 each. Officials are looking to buy 100 of them.
Shopay said recruits will get access to the guns first and begin training on them right away.
The old Smith & Wesson models will be turned in for a rebate, estimated to bring in about $90,000 for the department, Shopay said.
9 responses to “Big Isle police set to strap on new handguns”
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A very good and powerful weapon.
With training, the recoil from a .45 isn’t that bad. As a matter of fact, the Walther PPQ in .45 is quite pleasurable to shoot.
I’m wondering why Honolulu PD couldn’t get that rebate from S&W….did they even try? They could have made the city some money by selling their old 5906s ($575,000 worth of firearms), but instead destroyed them to “keep them off the streets”. Ironically, today we find that one of the weapons used by the ISIS terrorists in the Paris attacks was supplied by the 0bama administration through their “Fast and Furious” program.
In the past year the CIA has sent millions of dollars in weapons to Syrian fighters only to have them stolen by Jordanian terrorists. Nobody is reporting this story, even after some of the weapons have been used to kill Americans. Funny how the administration works out of both sides of its mouth.
Glocks are a good handgun however never liked them as they do not have safeties so if an officer loses his gun to an assailant, it increases their chances of being
shot by their own weapon. Smith & Wesson and other gun manufacturers like Beretta, Colt, Ruger and others do have safeties which make them safer to carry
and if lost in a struggle, it provides the officer a chance to escape being shot by their own weapon.
Glocks are very easy to fire, as it is like a revolver, just pull the trigger. The last Honolulu police officer shot by his own weapon taken away in a struggle
with an assailant was shot by his own Glock.
If you believe that a “safety” on a handgun will prevent an officer from being shot with the sidearm, you’re badly mistaken. It doesn’t take very long to disengage the safety, nor is it very complicating. Besides, if the officer has already drawn the firearm, chances are the safety would have already been disengaged.
Officers go through firearms retention training. This along with the holsters they use minimize the probability of a “gun grab”. There’s a reason why Glock pistols are used by more LEO here in the U.S. than any other brand.
lots of pix of dead officers holding weapons with the safety still engaged is why agencies and private individuals prefer firearms with no external safety.
when under extreme stress and time constraints, it’s difficult to remember to disengage the safety. better to have a weapon that will fire every time you pull the trigger than to be caught dead holding a weapon with the safety still engaged. and yes, the internal safety allows the weapon to be carried hot.
Why change guns ?? Don’t the old ones kill people as good as the new ones ?? How about just training cops to solve a situation without killing someone ?? Oh yeah, I forgot, the BAD guys have all the guns !!! Then again, cops have NEVER been hired based on common sense, have they ?? Seems 1/2 the cops I’ve encountered are frustrated bullies that have a badge to give them the right to be a bully.
um, they just said why they’re changing guns…
Doesn’t matter, he just has “issues”.