New rifles for Oak Ridge school resource officers
Oak Ridge Police Chief Robin Smith and Fire Chief Tra- vis Solomon talk to City Council member Sean Gleason after a recent council meeting. (photo:Ben Pounds )
Oak Ridge Police Chief Robin Smith said ORPD firearms instructors chose the Sig Sauer MPX nine-millimeter rifles because they’re “specifically designed for a situation where they’d have an active-shooter situation inside the building.”
He said the indoor setting doesn’t require long-barrel rifles. The new guns won’t have as much recoil as the patrol rifles the officers typically have at schools and elsewhere in Oak Ridge.
“It’s a smaller frame,” Smith told the City Council.
“It’s a lot easier to maneuver within a crowd,” he said. “And also, because it’s a nine-millimeter pistol round, when it recoils, it allows for the officers to stay on target more readily.”
The rifles will stay in a gun locker except during emergencies.
Smith said he did not know when they would arrive.
The City Council approved up to $35,342 for the rifles, magazines, red-dot sights and lights at its Feb. 12 meeting.
It passed unanimously among the council members present, but Mayor Pro Tem Jim Dodson and Councilman Derrick Hammond were not present.