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RESOLUTION NO. R-1213-120: A RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NORMAN, OKLAHOMA, APPROPRIATING $25,000 FROM THE SEIZURE AND RESTITUTION FUND BALANCE TO PURCHASE AMMUNITION TO BE USED BY POLICE ACADEMY RECRUITS FOR TRAINING PURPOSES AND FOR REQUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS FOR COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
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BACKGROUND: The Norman Police Department currently has twelve (12) open police officer positions and has been notified by one additional officer that he plans to retire effective May 31, 2013. We are planning to open the hiring process on April 1, 2013, and will begin our next police academy in October, 2013.
DISCUSSION: During the police academy, the recruit officers receive over one hundred (100) hours of firearms training with the various department firearms. Some recruits come into the academy with no firearms experience, so during training and required qualification courses each recruit will fire about three thousand (3000) rounds of ammunition. In addition, each commissioned officer must qualify twice each year, once in the spring and once in the fall.
The gun and ammunition market is very unstable at this time with all the speculation about restrictions on guns and gun components. Law enforcement agencies around the country are finding it hard to buy ammunition. The shortage is due in part to gun owners stocking up on bullets. The Department of Homeland Security has plans to buy 1.6 billion bullets which will only add to the ammunition shortage.
Due to this shortage, our ammunition vendors are advising us to expect orders to be delayed for 5 - 6 months. If we wait and process our ammunition order at the beginning of the new fiscal year, it is likely we will not have the necessary ammunition to train the new recruits during the academy or for our commissioned officers to requalify this fall. By approving this request, we can immediately process a purchase order for the needed ammunition and place the order with our vendor. This would ...
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