The Georgia-based Chickamauga Police Department has added the Glock 22 as its uniform handgun.
The Glock 22 joins the 223-caliber Smith & Wesson AR-15 rifle and the 12-gauge Mossberg pump-action shotgun as the department’s standard issue firearms, according to Northwest Georgia News.
The decision to add the uniform handgun was easy for the Chickamauga PD.
Officers now provide their own pistols, with some choosing .40-caliber and others carry-ing .45-caliber guns. That means that even if their pistols are of the same make and model, officers might not be able to share ammunition.
The department’s armory not only must keep an inventory of two calibers of automatic pistol ammunition, there are potential liability issues due to the lack of standardization.
Another advantage, from a legal standpoint, is that personal weapons can be customized to a particular officer’s preference regarding trigger pull, sights, grips, frame size or barrel length. Having a standard makes it less likely that an officer could be portrayed as a “rogue cop” in the event of a shooting.
“Like rifles and shotguns, this will be uniform weaponry,” Chickamauga Police Chief Ronald Roach told Northwest Georgia News.