SWAT team to trade out old weapons

By ERIC LINDBERG — Jan. 27, 2009

Weapons currently carried by members of the Santa Barbara Police Department’s SWAT team may soon pop up in Hollywood action films.

If the move is approved by the City Council tomorrow, the department will trade out its set of old weapons for new equipment through Cinema Weaponry, a firearms dealer out of Glendale, Calif., that converts weapons for use as props in movies.

Police officials began searching for an arms dealer willing to trade after current equipment began nearing the end of its life expectancy, police officials said.

“An exhaustive search only revealed one dealer, Cinema Weaponry, who was willing to conduct an exchange of our old weapons for credit towards the purchase of new weapons,” according to an agenda report prepared by Capt. Alex Altavilla. “Cinema Weaponry would also render our old weapons inert for movie prop use and not resell them back to the general public.”

Although the company specializes in prop weapons for major films, authorities noted also it holds state and federal licenses allowing it to handle Class III weapons, typically machine guns and assault rifles.

The owner of the company has also confirmed that he would be willing to make the trade, according to the staff report.

Since 2000, the SWAT team has mainly used a combination of Heckler & Koch submachine guns and assault rifles as entry weapons for team members. In addition to those weapons becoming outdated and aged, officials said the patrol division has switched to a Colt AR-15 semi-automatic rifle.

As a result, the SWAT team plans to trade in its Heckler & Koch weapons for Colt M-4s, a carbine assault rifle, to make training and weaponry consistent across the department.

The Colt M-4 is also substantially more customizable, has a wider array of accessories and is less costly to upgrade compared to other brands, Altavilla noted in the report.

“There will be no budget impact to the city,” he added. “In fact, Cinema Weaponry confirmed that our trade-in weapons would provide us with a credit of $9,850 and our purchase would cost $8,537, leaving a credit of $1,313 for future use.”

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ammo too? : 1/28/2009

Now if they'd only switch to using better ammo too... THE best SWAT ammo in the country is made in Goleta, but you sure wouldn't know it from local press coverage or local department usage. www.CustomCartridge.com

Becky

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