3 unnecessary and costly. We estimated that this cost the City/HPD at least $110 per trip or more than $3,000 per year. 2.
Shooting Range Administrator a.
Based on standard firearm training qualification requirements and discussions with HPD management it appears that the shooting range administrator purchased considerably more ammunition than was necessary or required to meet firearm training and qualification requirements and operate the shooting range. According to State of Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection POST range qualification requirements, on an annual basis, each police officer must shoot four courses consisting of 60 rounds of ammunition. According to HPD management, however, they are bound by a more stringent firearm training and qualification requirement as a result of an agreement in the settlement of the Maria Cintron, Et Al vs. Thomas Vaughn, Et Al law suit.
According to the settlement “The Hartford
Police Department has implemented a change in its firearms training schedule in order to improve the efficiency of officers in the familiarization and use of firearms. Each officer shall now qualify every three months, firing a total of one hundred and
twenty rounds from his issued weapon”
. During the six fiscal years ended December 31, 2014 the HPD purchased an average of about 485,000 rounds of ammunition or about 970 rounds of ammunition per police officer assuming a force of 500 police officers. Based on the state training and qualification standards we estimated that the HPD would be required to use a minimum of 120,000 rounds of ammunition a year. Based on the Cintron agreement we estimated that the HPD would be required to use a minimum of 240,000 rounds of ammunition per year. According the HPD management, however, they were only shooting four 60 round courses per year per officer for qualification purposes to reduce ammunition costs. It should be noted that this met the state training and qualification requirements. In addition, during preliminary discussions with HPD management they estimated that the HPD was using closer to 180,000 rounds per year or about 360 rounds of ammunition per police officer as a result of additional training on the new hand guns and certain police officers not meeting qualification requirements on the first try. Again, it appears that the shooting range administrator was purchasing more than twice as much ammunition annually than was necessary or required to meet police officer firearm training and qualification requirements and operate the shooting range. b.
The HPD has an established annual budget for the purchase of ammunition. For the
fiscal year ended June 30, 2014 the HPD’s budget for ammunition was $
115,000. As with other items purchased by departments throughout the City the standard policy and procedure for ammunition is to purchase and pay for what is needed on an ongoing basis while staying within budget or requesting revisions to the budget if deemed necessary. We noted, however, that the shooting range administrator circumvented the established budget and applicable policies and procedures by making arrangements with the vendor to purchase ammunition on account and to pay for it at a later date and in a subsequent fiscal year. This allowed the shooting range administrator to exceed the annual ammunition budget without the knowledge or consent of HPD management. When this came to light by HPD management in