Council approves replacement of police duty handguns, switches to 9mm to reduce ammo costs

Detective Sergeant Bill Goel presented a recommendation to replace the police department’s duty handguns and associated accessories and to step down from .45-caliber weapons to 9mm pistols. Goel said the department’s current duty pistols are about 20 years old and that 9mm ammunition is less costly and more readily available: “switching to a 9 millimeter ... we are hoping could save money in the end because the cost is ... around half of the cost of .45 ammo.”

Bids were solicited and three responsive vendors submitted proposals. Staff recommended CMP Distributors as the lowest responsive bidder. Chief Hamp’s memorandum and the police presentation requested a budget carryover from fiscal year 2024–25 durable goods to fiscal year 2025–26 and award of a purchase contract to CMP Distributors for $13,836.45, which includes trade-in allowances for the current weaponry.

Council approved the budget amendment to carry the funds forward and authorized the contract with CMP Distributors; council members also discussed disposition of replaced weapons (trade-in to vendor; employees may have the option to purchase through the dealer) and noted technology and training advances as reasons to update equipment.

The city will process the purchase and vendor will handle trade-in; staff said some off-set to cost is expected from trade-in values.