Branford Police Department To Be Equipped With Up-To-Date Guns

BRANFORD, CT - Branford’s Police Department will soon be outfitted with more modern weaponry thanks to a recent vote to spend $6,100 on new equipment by the Board of Police Commissioners.

The board voted unanimously to spend the funds after hearing a report from Deputy Police Chief John Mulhern, who said the change would help the department in a number of ways.

Mulhern said in this day and age the department’s personnel needs to be always be ready “for the threat of an active shooter and we need to be able to respond to mitigate such a threat.”

The deputy chief said the department’s current weapons don’t have lights on them which Mulhern said are needed “in this day and age - it’s a tactical advantage.”

The problem with getting better, newer weapons, the deputy chief said, is then you need new holsters.

Mulhern said the manufacturer is offering a trade-in to departments who are looking to upgrade their weaponry; so he said instead of spending $4,500 to retrofit the old guns, the force can get entire new guns and holsters for the $6,100, which was his and Police Chief Kevin Halloran’s recommendation.

The board went along with that recommendation.

Mulhern added that one of the big advantages of the new weapons is that they can be used in simulation training drills, which are designed to test police with high stress situations so cops will be prepared for the real thing when and if those situations occur.

The current, older department weaponry couldn’t be used in the simulation drills, Mulhern said.