Law enforcement agencies in Marin should track and record all firearms that have been lost or stolen and update policies on firearms security, the Marin County Civil Grand Jury urged.
“The loss of police firearms from unmarked department vehicles has recently been front page news” in the Bay Area, the grand jury noted, and “law enforcement should be held to a higher standard when it comes to gun handling and security.”
The eight-page report said incidents of lost or stolen police firearms in Marin are low, but it didn’t cite specific numbers or details. Nonetheless, “the grand jury believes that the best policy is for law enforcement never to leave a firearm in a vehicle,” according to the report. “Short of that, lock boxes should be installed in every department vehicle and policies should state specifically how firearms are to be secured.”
The report called for the Marin County Sheriff’s Office and the county’s nine police departments to discuss whether there should be a standard policy and procedure for storage, tracking and reporting of lost or stolen firearms.
Fairfax police Chief Chris Morin was prompted by several high-profile Bay Area gun thefts involving government vehicle break-ins to change the department’s policy on the storage of sidearms, the report noted.
Morin considered equipping department vehicles with lock boxes for handguns, but late last year decided that guns in unattended vehicles should be prohibited.
“A lock box could be torn out of a car,” he said. “It is a huge responsibility we bear when we carry a firearm — off or on duty. If while off duty, an officer chooses to carry a firearm, I simply believe he/she should carry it and not leave it in an unattended vehicle which is vulnerable to theft.”
The report lists five incidents throughout the Bay Area where guns were stolen from law enforcement officers’ vehicles, including the Bureau of Land Management ranger’s service pistol that was stolen from his car four days before it was used to kill a woman in San Francisco. Another gun stolen from a car in San Francisco belonged to an Immigration and Customs agent and was used to kill an Oakland artist.
Additionally, three guns belonging to FBI agents were stolen from an unmarked car in Benicia.
“The cases above are just those that made headlines,” the report said. “Not all thefts of police firearms do.
“An NBC Bay Area investigation into the loss and theft of police firearms uncovered that since 2010, more than 500 weapons have gone missing from eight different law enforcement agencies, including the California Highway Patrol, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration and six Bay Area departments.”
Marin County Undersheriff Mike Ridgway said the sheriff’s office considered lock boxes to be the better option.
“Not having the ability to secure a firearm at all is not an answer,” he said.
Ridgway said the sheriff’s office has 30 unmarked cars, 26 of which have lock boxes. The sheriff’s office updated its policy last month, indicating that firearms left in unattended vehicles must be secured in a lock box.
“We want to provide a safe option when carrying your gun isn’t a possibility,” he said.
Tiburon police Chief Mike Cronin said when it comes to reporting lost and stolen firearms, the department does that already and all of its weapons are accounted for.
Cronin is the only Tiburon officer who sometimes drives an unmarked car. He said the department is considering using lock boxes as well, and if an officer in his department was to carry a gun when off-duty, the officer should have the option to securely lock the weapon.
“Any barrier reduces the likelihood of the gun being stolen,” he said. “It’s a reasonable solution that is practical and doable.”
Like Fairfax, the Novato Police Department updated its policy on the heels of high-profile Bay Area gun thefts and conducted an audit that indicated all weapons were accounted for, Capt. Jamie Knox said. Its policy prohibits storing weapons in glove boxes, under car seats, in consoles and in trunks. The policy requires firearms to be locked in secure, authorized vaults, which they are considering for use in department vehicles, Knox said.
Off-duty officers are allowed to carry their sidearm, but “if you need to put your weapon inside your vehicle you didn’t need to have your weapon in the first place,” he said. If necessary, “you need to store it in a way that follows policy. It’s a huge responsibility that we take very seriously.”
May 6, 2016
Marin Independent Journal
By Adrian Rodriguez
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