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Armory Unit

 

 

While each officer with the Ross Township Police Department is responsible for their own duty weapons, the department stills maintains a separate Armory Unit to provide additional specialty firearms, training and support.
 
Maintenance responsibilities fall to the Department Armorers, Patrolmen David Eckels and Barry Clifford. The armorers are responsible for cleaning and maintaining all department owned weapons, which include the 12 gauge shotgun and .223 caliber patrol rifle. They are also responsible for assisting officers with the care and maintenance of their own individual duty weapons and controlling ammunition inventories for the department.
Patrolmen Eckels and Clifford maintain current certification as armorers for both the Sig Sauer and Glock brand pistols, both of which are widely used within the department. They are always seeking updates on all of the department owned weapons and ballistics information for the various ammunition brands and calibers that are on the market today.
Both Patrolmen Eckels and Clifford are NRA certified handgun and shotgun instructors, and each year they oversee the required annual firearms qualifications. This includes a night shoot qualification for each officer in the department. All officers are required to re-qualify with their duty weapon, appropriate department shotgun and any off duty weapon the officer will be utilizing. In addition, certain officers are selected for specialty weapons such as the patrol rifle and must qualify with those weapons in addition to the normal qualifications.
Patrolmen Eckels and Clifford have been instrumental in the development of various other firearms exercises, which include the creation of live fire tactical scenarios, that add a sense of realism and stress not normally found in traditional firearms qualification. This training better prepares the individual officer for the uncertainties found on the street.

The Armory Unit is also currently working on the creation of a training program for less lethal munitions and delivery systems. This may include the use of Tasers and “bean bag” type rounds for the 12 gauge shotgun. The development of this training will provide officers with an even greater range of tools to overcome a threat and will help to ensure the safety of both the police officer and the public at large.