The Taylor Mill Police Department will use the budget set aside for new flock cameras to replace old rifles.
On Wednesday, Aug. 12, the Taylor Mill Commission agreed to allow the police department to use money originally allocated for automatic license plate readers to replace the department’s 18-year-old rifles with 12 new ones.
“I understand rifles like, ‘How often will we use them?’ That’s a valid question,” said Assistant Chief Sergeant John ‘Mac’ Vollet. “We don’t use all types of emergency equipment all the time, but it just creates uniformity for our guys.”
Find out where there are Flock cameras in NKY
Currently, due to the age of the rifles, parts are no longer made available as the companies used by the police department no longer make the current models. Some police officers use their personal parts in order to correctly use the rifles.
With the new incoming set of rifles, officers would be receiving universal training instead of every officer using a different weapon.
“If we can make them all the same, it’s going to make it a whole lot easier on our officers,” said Commissioner Mark Kreimborg.
Commissioner Rose Merritt also said she was fine with reallocating the flock funds to replacing the department’s rifles.
“They’ll last us a long time,” Merritt said. “We’ll have uniform rifles [and] all the policemen will train on the same rifles.”
Compared to the Flock cameras, there is still a roughly $900 difference left to cover the costs for the rifles. The police department is considering selling the older rifles to help make up the difference.
“We are proactive but a lot of the times we are reactive, so I think the rifles will greatly assist us in that,” Vollet said.
