Miami to arm police with assault weapons

[zzzona]

This in today's St Pete times..
MIAMI - A rise in assault rifle use by criminals has spurred Miami's police chief to authorize patrol officers to carry similar weapons, he said Sunday.

Police Chief John Timoney approved the new policy last week. That was even before a Miami-Dade police officer was killed in a shootout with an assault rifle-wielding suspect on Thursday. The new policy has been under review for about a year due to officers seeing an increase in the weapons, Timoney said.

"This is something we do not do with any relish. We do this reluctantly," Timoney said.

The chief blamed the 2004 expiration of the federal ban on assault weapons for the escalation of heavily armed violence on Miami's streets. He said AK-47s have become a "gun of choice" for criminals.

Years ago, law enforcement specialists like SWAT teams were the only officers to carry the assault-style weapons, but now even small-town police agencies are expanding access to the AR-15, a civilian version of the military M-16 rifle.

Patrol officers in Danbury, Conn., have been allowed to carry the weapons since 2003. Police departments in Merced, Calif., and Waterloo, Iowa, have deployed them in all patrol vehicles for several years. In Stillwater, Okla., about 70 miles west of Tulsa, every police patrol officer is issued an AR-15.

Officers in Los Angeles have been equipped with the weapons even longer, since soon after a 1997 gunfight outside a bank where police faced a man armed with an AK-47. Officers in that situation had to go to a nearby gun store to get high-velocity weapons.

Timoney said it has become apparent over the last year that Miami officers need the option of more powerful weapons. For example, he said an officer responding to a domestic dispute recently found the man sleeping with an AK-47.

The Miami Police Department said 15 of its 79 homicides last year involved assault weapons. This year, 12 of the 60 homicides have involved the high-power guns.

As a precaution, officers using the weapons in Miami will shoot "frangible" bullets, which shatter after they've hit something to avoid striking bystanders or other unintended targets.

In addition, officers interested in the guns will also have to undergo two days of training and be certified to use the weapons, which the police force doesn't yet have money to purchase. If officers want the guns now, they will have to pay for them, Timoney said.

Not all officers may choose to carry the new weapon. But, said Timoney: "If I was a police officer out there in a tough neighborhood, I would want to have that in the car."