On Friday, March 20, 2009, PLEA President Mark Spencer along with PLEA Board Member Ken Crane attended the memorial sign placement for Officer George Cortez at 2200 N. 83 Av.
Both Mark and Ken had an opportunity to speak briefly with Mayor Gordon re: allowing private purchase of patrol rifles.
PLEA greatly appreciates the fact that the City Council was able to free up additional funds for the purchase of additional rifles. It was explained to the Mayor that the problem at this point in time is not necessarily the funds to purchase the rifles as it is just getting rifles from vendors that are heavily back ordered due to the war effort in the middle east as well as increased demand from the law enforcement market.
PLEA feels that a two pronged approach is the best way to solve the problem.
1. Have the department continue the pursuit of procuring addtional rifles and,
2. Allow officers the option of being able to use personally owned and privately purchased rifles that many officers already have in their possession.
The attached documents are information that was forwarded to Mayor Gordon at his request.
CLICK HERE to see the KFYI news story on Mayor Gordon’s testimony before congress.
CLICK HERE to view how cities comparable to Phoenix stack up with regard to private purchase of patrol rifles.