LAPD launches probe into alleged resale of weapons by SWAT officers

SWAT officers can be seen at a standoff in Sylmar last year. The LAPD is looking into whether SWAT officers bought large numbers of handguns and resold them for substantial profits.LA Times

The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating whether members of its elite SWAT unit took advantage of their assignments to purchase large numbers of specially-made handguns and resell the weapons for steep profits, according to a report released Friday by the independent watchdog overseeing the department.

The allegations, if true, could be a violation of federal firearm laws and city ethics regulations.

The ongoing inquiry is the LAPD’s second attempt to understand what happened with the handguns. Police officials opened the investigation only after Inspector General Alex Bustamante raised concerns that a previous attempt to look into the gun dealings had been badly “deficient,” according to Bustamante’s report.

Because the initial investigation was so lacking, little is known about the gun sales. Bustamante’s report, which will be presented to the L.A. Police Commission on Tuesday, was based on the initial, substandard inquiry and so could not answer basic questions about the allegations, including how many officers were involved, the number of guns sold and when the sales were carried out. The LAPD’s current investigation is expected to be completed in about a month, Bustamante wrote in his report.

Suspicion about the guns first arose in 2010, when the commanding officer of the LAPD’s Metropolitan Division, which includes SWAT, ordered an inventory of the division’s firearms, the report said. The officer responsible for conducting the count discovered that SWAT members had purchased between 51 and 324 pistols from the gun manufacturer Kimber and were “possibly reselling them to third parties for large profits,” according to the report.

There would probably have been no problem if the officers had purchased the guns for personal use. However, with only about 60 officers in the unit, the possibility that a few hundred guns were purchased has raised concerns.

Kimber sold the guns, which bore a special “LAPD SWAT” insignia, to members of the unit for about $600 each — a steep discount from their resale value of between $1,600 and $3,500, the report said. The unique SWAT gun branding was first made several years earlier, when the department contracted with Kimber for a one-time purchase of 144 of the pistols.

During the inventory, the officer also discovered that two companies not affiliated with the LAPD — Cinema Weaponry and Lucas Ranch Gun Sales — were involved in the transactions with Kimber. Unbeknownst to the gun manufacturer, Cinema Weaponry was involved in the purchase of the handguns, while Lucas Ranch Gun Sales was charging fees “for facilitating the transfer of the pistols from Kimber to officers,” according to the report.

Jim Manhire, who owns Lucas Ranch, said in an interview that the SWAT officers relied on him, as a registered gun dealer, to complete the state and federal registration process that must be done for all weapons. The .45-caliber guns, he said, were purchased by the officers directly from Kimber and shipped from the manufacturer to Manhire. After he had registered the weapons, the officers picked them up, Manhire said.

Manhire could not recall how many officers had him register guns and was unaware whether the officers then resold the weapons. He denied that he was paid to register the guns, saying that he only received reimbursement from the officers for registration fees charged by authorities.

Cinema Weaponry is owned by Michael Papac, according to the state’s business registry. Papac’s name does not appear on LAPD employee rosters. He did not return calls seeking comment.

The officer conducting the inventory identified several SWAT members whom he suspected of being involved in the gun dealings, Bustamante’s report said. He reported his findings to the division’s commanding officer, who, in turn, relieved one officer of duty and notified the department’s Internal Affairs office.

Neither the officer relieved of duty, the others suspected of being involved, nor the person who conducted the inventory were interviewed for the investigation, and no attempt was made to determine how many guns had been purchased from Kimber, Bustamante wrote. In the end, the department concluded that it had no policy governing such activity, and so closed its investigation, according to the inspector general report.

Regardless of whether the LAPD has a policy governing gun sales by officers, Bustamante noted that “the purchase of firearms with the intent to immediately transfer the weapon to a third party may violate city ethics regulations and federal firearm laws.” The report did not specify which regulations and laws may have been violated.

Police officials declined to comment on the case, citing the ongoing investigation. Deputy Chief Mark Perez, head of the department’s Internal Affairs Group, acknowledged that the initial investigation had been “hastily and not very well done,” but could not explain why. The person looking into the matter was not available, he said.

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/aug/24/local/la-me-swat-gun-sales-20120825

5 thoughts on “LAPD launches probe into alleged resale of weapons by SWAT officers

  1. I’m sure the LAPD will investigate this as thoroughly as the did their cop they just extinguished. Kinda like the DOJ got to the bottom of fast and furious.

  2. Yea, I’m sure this will all be a good show by the LAPD to put on for the public and to try and make themselves look good by deceiving the public into thinking that they (the LAPD) are trying to fix their criminal reputation.

    As Rob said in his comment above: “Kinda like the DOJ got to the bottom of fast and furious”.

    Kinda like a drug dealer investigating who he sold his illegal drugs to OR kinda like a used car salesman trying to remember who he sold a shitty car to.

  3. “The allegations, if true, could be a violation of federal firearm laws and city ethics regulations.”

    COULD BE a violation???

    Exactly WHAT could possibly preclude it from actually BEING a violation?

    Wouldn’t have anything to do with the fact that COPS are involved, would it?

    Despicable.

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