Missing handguns at the Columbus Police Department are likely the result of poor record keeping and not theft, according to Interim Chief Doran Johnson.
Last week Johnson discovered that more than 30 handguns — all Glock 23s — were unaccounted for. He told The Dispatch on Monday he doesn’t believe the guns were improperly taken, but rather the issue is a result of sloppy and inconsistent paperwork.
Keeping track of the weapons was the responsibility of the training officer, who also doubles as inventory clerk, he said.
“Our training officer normally keeps tabs on the inventory,” he said. “(The training officer) retired back in June.”
That position, which was held by a civilian, has not yet been filled, he said. An officer is performing those duties while the department seeks a permanent replacement.
Johnson said, since he is new in the position of interim chief, he wanted to take a look at systems across the department, and that’s when the problem came to light.
Johnson was named interim chief in July after former chief Fred Shelton retired, formally taking the helm Aug. 16. He had previously served for about two and a half years as assistant chief under Shelton.
“I’m new, and I’m looking at a lot of stuff,” he said. “I’m checking through everything and just trying to get a line on stuff and get some stuff in order.”
Johnson disputed that the guns themselves were actually missing.
“The guns aren’t missing, per se,” he said. “It’s that we’ve just got to account for what officers got what. There are a lot of different variables.”
Those “variables” include officers who retired, he said.
“The officers are issued weapons, and those are recorded on the inventory list,” he said. “But sometimes officers retire, and they buy them, and there might not have been a record kept when that happened.”
State law allows law enforcement officers to buy their duty weapon for $10 when they retire.
Then there are officers who swapped out a problematic pistol for a replacement, he said.
“Sometimes an officer has a gun that malfunctions, and they turn it in and get another one,” he said. “The serial numbers may not have been swapped out in the inventory lists.”
Johnson said he is having officers update that paperwork.
“We’re having officers do an updated inventory sheet (with current serial number) so that we can have an updated, accurate inventory sheet,” he said.
Johnson wouldn’t say how many guns have been accounted for, but he did say the number of weapons in question was shrinking.
“The numbers are dwindling down as we’ve been finding them,” he said.
If, at the end of the process, some weapons remain unaccounted for, they will be reported as missing, Johnson said.
“If they’re not found, we’ll record the serial number with the National Crime Information Center,” he said. “Then if they turn up somewhere it’ll hit on (the serial number) and let us know.”
Johnson said flatly that there had not been any kind of break-in.
“Nobody has broken into our inventory and stolen anything,” he said. “They are kept in an inventory room under lock and key.”
Mayor Keith Gaskin told The Dispatch he was made aware of the situation after the city council’s Thursday morning work session.
“It’s a concern when they don’t know where guns are located,” he said. “I don’t know what else to say other than I think we should be able to account for all the weapons at all times.”
Gaskin said he expected the matter to be cleared up “as soon as possible,” but he could not give a specific timeline.
Johnson also could not say when the process would be complete but hopes it will be “sooner rather than later.”
Gaskin said he doesn’t think the situation is Johnson’s fault.
“This is not the fault of the interim chief,” he said. “This is obviously going back to other chiefs. What I would hope is that we have a full accounting of all the weapons we purchased, that you can easily locate them with the serial numbers, just a detailed spreadsheet of the weapons.”
This is the second time this year that questions have arisen about how weapons are handled at CPD. In June weapons, body armor and ammunition were stolen from the trunk of an off-duty officer’s vehicle. Four suspects were eventually charged in that case.
Brian Jones is the local government reporter for Columbus and Lowndes County.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.