New Guns For SF Police Officers

Sioux Falls, SD

You probably will not notice, but Sioux Falls Police officers will be carrying some new guns. The department is trading in its .40 caliber Glock handguns for 9mm Glock handguns. They are essentially twins, but officers can tell the difference.

"All of them found improvement. Shooting the nine millimeter versus .40 caliber," Sam Clemens said.

The guns are the same size and weight, but the 9mms have smaller barrels, carry smaller and more bullets, and have different springs inside.   

"The big kicker with that is the nine millimeter has a lot less recoil than the 40 calibur," Clemens said.

This gives officers better control of the gun, and a more accurate shot. 

"You want the bullets to go where you're aiming them. If there's a big recoil, somebody might flinch and there might be some stray rounds that go and there's the potential for some innocent person to be hurt or killed by that," Clemens said.

Though you can see the bullets are smaller than the old ones, Clemens said, based on ballistics, there really is no other difference. Officers have already started training with the new pieces.

"You're just not walking in and dropping in one gun and picking another," Clemens said.

The old .40 calibers have been purchased by a gun vendor, who will sell them. The department is still transitioning to the new style, but Clemens says officers still carry the same motto.

"We hope that we never have to use it, but we want to make sure we have it there, in case you have to use it and that's going to be to defend your life or protect somebody else's life," Clemens said.

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