Two years after Throop Borough Council ordered its police department to sell three automatic submachine guns following a procedural gaffe, the council plans to arm its officers with semi-automatic rifles.
At a budget planning meeting earlier this month, council verbally agreed to include purchasing three AR-15 rifles equipped with optic sights and flashlights in its 2015 expenditures. The guns are expected to cost about $6,000.
Citing several deadly active-shooter situations in the region recently, all council members present seemed to be of one mind: now is the time to ramp up local law enforcement’s firepower.
“The days of the handgun are falling short,” Councilman David Repchick said. “Almost every shooting that you’ve seen has been done with a rifle. It’s getting to the point law enforcement can’t keep up with what they’re being attacked with.”
Last year in Ross Twp., Monroe County, a gunman stormed a municipal meeting, killing three people. In September, two state troopers were gunned down outside a state police barracks in Blooming Grove, Pike County. Four days after that, a man in Scranton shot another man in his home and then took his own life.
All three incidents involved rifles, and criminals’ use of higher-powered weapons has law enforcement re-evaluating how to keep one step ahead.
Many municipal departments now have heavier-powered rifles, including Scranton. The Clarks Summit Police Department bought three AR-15s last year for extreme circumstances.
The planned purchase of AR-15 rifles won’t be the first time Throop has been equipped with big guns. In 2012, the department bought the MP5 submachine guns without a formal vote from council. Council chalked it up to a misunderstanding, but instructed Chief Jones to sell the guns as quickly as possible.
Chief Jones told a Times-Tribune reporter then he was looking to improve security and better equip his officers. Some Throop officers have SWAT training and the know-how to properly use the guns.
“(The department) went through improper channels, so that’s why they were sold at the time,” borough council President Thomas Lukasewicz said. “At the time, it didn’t seem like there was that much of a need for that type of rifle.”
But the recent events in Monroe County and Scranton seem to have caught everyone’s attention, and nowadays you have to arm your police department with the best-possible tools, Mr. Lukasewicz said.
Councilwoman Charlene Tomasovitch admitted at first she scorned the idea of heavier firepower in the borough.
“Years ago, when all that happened with the guns, I was totally against it,” she said.
After the guns were sold, she said one officer pulled her aside and explained why police needed them and how the department would use them.
“That really made me think differently about it,” Mrs. Tomasovitch said. “You just don’t know this day and age.”
Polled about the issue, a few residents in Throop’s western corner said they’re OK with extra firepower, as long as officers get the proper training.
Rose Kaminski said she would feel safer knowing her local law enforcement had more powerful rifles, “if they’re properly trained, of course.”
Frank Lupinski, a gun owner, said it’s important to make sure only qualified officers have access to the rifles.
“It all depends on how they’re going to be used and who’s using them,” Mr. Lupinski said.
Leona Gataveskas has her reservations about more guns, but she recognizes the need.
“I’m up in the air about it,” Ms. Gataveskas said. “I’m not about the violence, but we have to be protected.”
Mr. Repchick, a former Throop police captain who was liaison to the department when it bought the MP5s, said the department has a certified rifle instructor they use for training. He said officers are to receive extensive training before they are armed with AR-15s.
“You’ve got to be highly trained with it,” Mr. Repchick said. “To me, proficient isn’t good enough.”
Mayor Wayne Williams and the other four council members did not return repeated calls for comment last week.
At the meeting earlier this month, council members agreed it’s better to have them in the off-chance police need them.
“I hope we’d never have to use them,” Mrs. Tomasovitch said. “You know what, you don’t know what’s going to trigger something in someone.”
Contact the writer: joconnell@timesshamrock.com,
@jon_oc on Twitter
