#LawEnforcement

A combined operation between Australian Border Force and the Western Australia Police has arrested a man for having more than 20 illegally owned firearms, including a .50 calibre machine gun. Australian Border Force officers intercepted a package from Slovenia carrying firearms parts, this led them to a 23-year-old man in Perth, officers from the Border Force and the local Western Australia police then raided the man’s home and found a cache of weapons and ammunition.

Sumter, South Carolina’s police department is set to transition completely to SIG Sauer pistols. The department will move away from its current Glock duty pistols, including the Glock 43 currently carried as an department-issued backup pistol.

Portugal’s Secretaria Geral da Administração Interna (or Ministry of Internal Administration) have ordered over 1,000 new Glock pistols for various police and law enforcement agencies. The contract is worth just short of 500,000 Euros and will see new 9x19mm Gen 5 Glock 19s issued.

Germany’s Federal Police, the Bundespolizei, are seeking contractors to fulfil major orders for various accessories to modernise their MP5 submachine guns. The large scale procurement was announced via a contract notice posted on the EU’s Tenders Electronic Daily site. The Federal Police are seeking a contractor that can provide straps, picatinny rail mounting options, new reflex sights, a railed forend for the MP5 as well as weapon lights.

I recently attended Low Light Partners Shoothouse with Steve Fisher of Sentinel Concepts. The course was held at the Alliance Police Training Facility. It was a large class of 18 students including many who had never taken a shoothouse course before. Steve brought Ephraim Rogers, Bill Peterson, Joe Halloran and Michael Sebastian as additional instructors. They brought a diverse experience pool from military positions to Swat roles.

I recently attended Law Enforcement Protective Operations with Alexander Global Strategies. This was a 5 day course at the Alliance Police Range in Alliance, Ohio. This course teaches the fundamentals of executive protection. Due to the student base of this course, content focused on departments providing or assisting a protection team. However, the same information could be used by the private citizen to protect their significant other.

The Bavarian State Police have announced their adoption of the FN SCAR-L. The news was announced by the Bavarian State Ministry of the Interior through the Strategie & Technik blog. The contract was awarded at the beginning of September and the guns will be issued to the Bavarian Bereitschaftspolizei (riot or rapid reaction police).

In April the state of Vermont moved to ban bump stocks,  the ban officially began on the 1st October. In the run up to the ban, however, Vermont State Police held a voluntary amnesty for citizens wishing to give up their bump stocks. The scheme has not been the success that police might have hoped for.

SIG Sauer has announced that Virginia’s Division of Capitol Police has selected the SIG Sauer P320. Virginia Division of Capitol Police can lay claim to being the US’ oldest police department, established during the 17th century when the Colony of Virginia was first founded. The department conducts both uniform patrols but also oversees the personal protection of the state Governor. It appears Virginia’s Capitol Police have selected the P320 Nitron Full-Size pistol, in an undisclosed calibre.

Finland’s police are set to update their firearms inventory, reportedly replacing the venerable Heckler & Koch MP5 with the Czech CZ Scorpion EVO 3.  YLE, Finland’s national public broadcasting company, reports that with the end of a contract with Heckler & Koch, Finland’s Poliisi are set to transition to the Scorpion EVO 3.

Radical Firearms eclipsed an extremely significant milestone recently rather unceremoniously. Many people know that Radical Firearms is in the business of creating everything AR-15 related, but they have additional goals and aspirations as well. They have donated their 300th RF-15 firearm to benefit law enforcement, our military, and first responders. This includes both rifle and pistol variants of their staple RF-15 design.

The Department of Justice has awarded a private vendor a contract to provide a California federal prison with new Glock 19X pistols. The contract was awarded on the 19th September by the federal Bureau of Prisons and is worth nearly $70,000.

Rise Armament is known across the firearm industry for their tremendously high quality AR-15 rifles and components. In addition to that, this year they have gone out to specifically help our veterans and law enforcement through multiple endeavors. Rise Armament in conjunction with Folds of Honor released a Patriot Trigger back over Memorial weekend this year. A portion of every sale of that trigger would go to Folds of Honor who provides scholarships to the children and spouses of disabled and deceased veterans.

UK Border police intercepted a sizeable shipment of illegal firearms and nearly half a ton of drugs at the Port of Dover in southern England. 20 firearms and ammunition were intercepted and two Polish men were arrested for smuggling when a shipment of paper was searched.

Two people have been arrested as a result of a joint operation involving two US agencies and a number of British police forces. The quiet market town of Oswestry, in Shropshire in the UK, was surprised to find its main street cordoned off by armed police officers on afternoon of the 6th September.