HPD purchase 60 AR-15 guns to protect citizens

HATTIESBURG, Miss. - The Hattiesburg Police Department has recently purchased 60 new AR-15 guns for police officer use.

Police Chief, Anthony Parker, said the weapons are for extreme emergencies and will be used to protect citizens.

“We are currently training on these weapons, a classroom training on how to use them and when to use them. After that training is over with, we will put them in service,” said Chief Parker.

Once officers are properly trained on the use of the secondary weapons, they will be housed in the trunk of squad cars.

“We want to be fully prepared in everything we do, that’s why we are proactive in our planning when we purchase weapons. We look at the climate we are living in and on the dangers that are presented to us. As you know recently we have a lot of people that target law enforcement and we don’t know where and when that might happen. We just want to be prepared.”

Chief Parker says the officers are trained in groups of 10, 8 hours a day, for 3 days a week. All officers are scheduled to complete training between December and the beginning of 2018.