The Police Department can send its pistols overseas when it replaces them next month, the Village Board has decided.
Trustees approved a trade-in agreement with the Glock Corp. in which the department will send Glock its 90 Smith and Wesson service pistols in exchange for a $17,698 discount on 90 new 40-millimeter Glock pistols valued at $56,758. The village will pay $30,060 for the new guns, said Deputy Police Chief Tim Hayden.
“I think this is great,” said Trustee Sylvia Layne. “I was afraid we would have to dispose of those weapons for no cash return whatsoever.”
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The trade-in is particularly valuable because releasing the guns directly to the manufacturer for refurbishment and resale guarantees they will be resold in legitimate foreign markets instead of locally, Hayden said. If the village sold them to a U.S. arms broker, they could be sold locally and pass into the black market. “That would open the department up to a lawsuit if any of the guns were used in a crime,” he said.
The department will receive 70 9-inch pistols for its 66 uniformed officers and 20 7-inch pistols for its 15 plainclothed detectives and administrators. Officers will be required to turn in their 9-inch weapons when they’re assigned to plainclothes duty and to turn in their 7-inch weapons when they return to uniform duty so that no officer has more than one weapon at any time, Hayden said.