Seattle police department lost 23 guns since 2017

The 23 missing guns were part of training units that have previously been found to be lacking strict storage and security measures. Other pieces went missing from the police firing range or police officers just misplaced them, WKRC reported.

According to Breitbart, the inventory of missing weapons incudes: 18 Glock pistol lower frames from the training unit; a modified shotgun that has its firing pin disabled; a lower of a Glock 22 from the firing range; a shotgun believed to be lost at the range; and a pistol and rifle from the locker of a cop who apparently had them stolen.

The serial numbers on the guns have all been passed to the National Crime Information Center, so the SPD will be notified if the firearms are ever located or used to commit a crime.

SPD spokesman Patrick Michaud told the New York Post, “We’re going to do our best to ensure that we do better… Until we find them, we’re going to keep looking for them.”

The Office of the Washington State Auditor would not respond to KUOW about the story, saying the case is still open but the outlet noted that this is not the first time the SPD has admitted to losing a gun. In October 2019, an 18-year-old left a police training building with an officer’s personal gun. The youth was attending a police education forum and eventually threw the firearm from a bridge. Police found it on top of a nearby building a few days later.

A Seattle Office of Inspector General internal review, requested by former Police Chief Carmen Best, revealed that the police did not have the safest or most secure means of storing firearms at their training facilities and they were vulnerable to be stolen, according to an August 2021 report found by KUOW.

The SPD recently announced that it won’t respond to emergency calls unless the complainant has supporting evidence of crime.