Police face ammo budget shortfall
Chief says department will use grant money to cover price increases
BARSTOW • The Barstow Police Department is feeling the impact of rising ammunition prices.
Chief Dianne Burns said that the department’s current budget doesn’t contain enough money to cover ammunition costs this fiscal year. However, she declined to say what the ammunition budget was and how many rounds of ammunition the department uses for training and on duty. Burns said that department had planned its budget anticipating a lower ammunition cost.
“I don’t think anyone was prepared for such a large increase in the cost of rounds,” Burns said. “We haven’t had to change anything. We’ve just backfilled the ammunition budget with grant funds for now. We’d like to use the grant money elsewhere, but we have to buy ammunition.”
Lt. Albert Ramirez said that the department is paying approximately $40 more for a box of 500 rounds of ammunition this year than it was a year ago. The department uses around $7,000 worth of ammunition each time they do firearms training. Ramirez said that the department is also experiencing long wait times to purchase certain types of ammunition due to shortages. The department is keeping a stockpile of ammunition and ordering in larger quantities when possible due to the shortages, according to Ramirez.
Ramirez and Burns said they believed the current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have caused the shortages and driven up the cost for ammunition.
Tony Riley, owner of the local gun store Riley’s Reloader, said he has also seen increases in the cost of ammunition, but he believes higher metal prices are to blame. Riley said that a two years ago a box of 50 .45-caliber bullets cost approximately $20 and the same box now costs $32. Ramirez said that members of the police department carry .40-caliber or .45-caliber handguns.
Bruce Savage, vice president of communications for the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc., said that metal prices are down from their highest levels in 2008, but have increased throughout 2009. Copper, which is used in bullets, has gone up more than $1 a pound during 2009, according to Savage.
Contact the writer:
(760) 256-4126 or dheldreth@desertdispatch.com
