Winchester PD to get new tasers and guns
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By Carmen Ensinger
Thanks to Police Chief Steve Doolin, Winchester Police Department is probably one of the best armed police departments in the area.
Doolin requested of the council at the May 1 meeting to purchase four new handguns and four new tasers, which were both approved.
Doolin said he discovered, when ordering a holster for one of his new officer’s service weapons that there was not a Level 3 retention holster available for two of the department-owned weapons.
“During my search, I found a company willing to take these two older weapons in on trade for a newer model Sig Sauer 9mm,” he said. “With the blessing of the Mayor, a trade of two department Smith and Wesson 9mm was made for two Sig Sauer 9mm with a difference of $225 plus $20.93 freight.”
The two remaining service weapons were even older than the two Doolin traded in so he asked about a trade in on those as well.
“It is recommended that we trade in the remaining two service weapons for two additional Sig Sauer 9mm carry models,” he said. “I have a quote for $385 total for the second pair. This will give the department uniformity and more modern equipment.”
Approval for taser batteries and cartridges totaling $590 was approved at the March 6 meeting. It was learned at the April 6 meeting that if they made this purchase, Axon would not support the department in legal matters if a taser was deployed due to the tasers being expired.
Therefore, Doolin set out to get a quote on the cost of new tasers for the department. Unfortunately, there was only one company in Illinois that made tasers – Axon.
With no competition, they can charge departments like Winchester whatever they want. The company must be licensed in Illinois and meet Illinois safety standards.
The quote Doolin received from Axon to replace the departments five tasers with four new ones is $4,405.08 per year for five years for a total of $22,029. The life expectancy of a taser is five years.
“During this contract period, the tasers are under warranty and includes free replacement of used cartridges along with training for each officer for annual certification,” Doolin said. “In addition, an officer will receive training to become a certified trainer for annual training purposes. I looked and there are no known grants available for this purchase.”
The council approved the purchase of the four tasers.
Doolin said that the department has a new Facebook page. It is named Winchester IL Police Department.
“This replaces the previous Facebook page that we could not access due to not having the administrator password,” he said. “This is still a work in progress and we are expecting to have it in use soon. Officer Amanda Smith is responsible for getting this up and going for us.”
Doolin said the Winchester Police Department has partnered with the DEA as a prescription drug takeback site.
“We will be accepting expired and unused prescription drugs throughout the year,” Doolin said. “Call the police department to make arrangements to drop off any unwanted medications.”
On April 30, the department turned over 70 pounds of prescription medication to the DEA for disposal. Officer Amanda Smith was instrumental in setting this up for Winchester having experience from her previous employer.
