In the coming week, the Waldoboro Police Department will be finalizing an application for several military surplus rifles.
The rifles are provided through a federal program that gives free military surplus equipment to police departments. The semi-automatic M-16s are powerful and highly accurate up to about 1100 meters, said Police Chief Bill Labombarde. They will replace the department’s existing rifles.
After a few years of work and applications, the department has been approved for up to eight rifles – one for each fulltime officer – but only plans to ask for four – one for each cruiser – Labombarde said.
The rifles are free; the only cost to the town is shipping, which will cost less than $350 for all the rifles, Labombarde said.
“It’s an equipment upgrade at almost no cost,” Labombarde said. “This allows us to make sure the people committing the crimes don’t end up with better guns than us.”
Labombarde presented the upgrade to the Waldoboro Board of Selectmen for approval on Oct. 11. The board of was largely supportive, and voted 4-1 with Chairman Clinton Collamore opposed.
Collamore, a longtime member of the Sportman’s Alliance of Maine and several rifle clubs, said in a telephone interview on Oct. 14 that his vote was not anti-gun.
“This is Waldoboro, not some big city,” Collamore said. “I just question whether we need military-grade semi-automatic rifles.”
