A sergeant with the Pinal County Sheriff's Office does not have his automatic rifle, pistol, or Taser after the weapons were stolen out of his vehicle yesterday morning.
The Colt M-16A1 automatic rifle, Taser X-26 and its loaded cartridge, as well as Glock 27 pistol with a magazine were stolen out of the sergeant's unmarked Sheriff's Office car around 4:30 a.m. Wednesday while it was parked in front of his house in Casa Grande.
Pinal County Sheriff's Office spokesman Elias Johnson tells New Times the sergeant did just about everything right except park the car in his garage, although the sergeant's home may not actually have a garage.
Johnson says just about every deputy has weapons in his or her car,
adding that it could extend response times if deputies took all their
gear from their cars every night.
Crimes like this apparently aren't quite a rarity in law enforcement, as Johnson says his car was just broken into in September, although he didn't have weapons in the trunk.
Even though the car was unmarked, whoever broke into the car probably knew what he was getting into, since the inside still looks like a law enforcement vehicle, Johnson says.
Additionally, having the key is just about the only way to open the trunk to these vehicles, as whoever broke into the car probably gained access to the trunk by ripping out the rear seats, Johnson says.
The priority for the Sheriff's Office, as you can imagine, is to recover the weapons so they don't end up causing a crime scene, and Johnson says they'd also like to catch whoever did it.
In addition to stealing the guns from a law enforcement officer, Johnson notes that the other poor decision in stealing the guns is that all the serial numbers are documented, so selling the weapons to a pawn shop or other store would lead to a pretty quick arrest.
"I don't think a lot of people are that stupid to steal weapons from a law enforcement vehicle," Johnson says.
If you feel like turning the guy in, or know anything about it, you can get a reward by letting the Casa Grande Police Department or the Pinal County Sheriff's Office know.
