Park police got guns but no ammo or training

Feb 5, 2008
by Will Reisman
The Examiner

SAN FRANCISCO - The vast majority of officers from the San Francisco division of the U.S. Park Police — one of five departments that oversee homeland security on Golden Gate Bridge — did not receive proper weapons training for more than a year because of management gaffes on the federal level, according to a new government report.

Ninety-three percent of Park Police officers did not meet minimum qualifications to operate pistols due in large part to a lack of ammunition needed for training sessions, a study by the Department of the Interior revealed.

After upgrading from 9 mm pistols to .40-caliber pistols in July of 2006, the San Francisco headquarters did not receive ammunition for the new weapons from the federal government until the second week of August 2007, said area Park Police spokesman Lt. Jeff Wasserman.

According to the report, a manager for the San Francisco office “repeatedly requested ammunition” from the Headquarters’ Service Division, “and even offered to buy it themselves,” but “their requests were continually denied.”