Holding a firearm as evidence

[JoseVazquez76]

OK so i am a SCOP Officer, I have seven other officers under me , the Firearms we use are issued to us they are to be taken home everyday pretty much in the care of the Officer it has been issued to. My question is if something happens off duty hours and they use the Issued Firearm in a self defense situation will that firearm be taken for Evidence until the case is closed ? Or given back within a few hours ?

The reason i ask is because i want to know is if i should be putting something out to convince them to carry personal Firearms when not working since we do not have any extra one's to issue out. Our Firearm Certifications are Caliber specific thru D.C.J.S. if we are qualified with a .45 we can not come to work with say a 9MM.

Thanks.

[Ironbear]

It sounds like something you should ping your office legal council on, not strangers on the internet!. Just saying.

[jdonovan]

. My question is if something happens off duty hours and they use the Issued Firearm in a self defense situation will that firearm be taken for Evidence until the case is closed ?

absolutely 100% it will be taken and held. Generally until the case is completely over and all appeals are complete, which could be years.

The reason i ask is because i want to know is if i should be putting something out to convince them to carry personal Firearms when not working since we do not have any extra one's to issue out.

If you can't replace it, then it should not be taken home. period. Not only is it subject to being held if used, but they could be lost/stolen etc...

Now lets flip back to the on the job situation. Lets say there is an on the job case and a firearm is used. As a SCOP, I'm assuming major cases you're going to defer investigation to the local or state jurisdiction you are in. Again expect the firearms involved to be held for an extended period of time.

You should probably have some spares on the shelf at the department armory for a variety of reasons.