The Orange Police Department is distributing new 9mm semi-automatic pistols to its officers and discontinuing the use of .38-caliber sidearms it has utilized for at least 40 years.

The new weapons, described as Smith and Wesson's latest "top of the line model," are "giving the men a sense of security," according to Police Director Charles Cobbertt.

That feeling, he explained, is a direct result of the 9mm guns being "lighter, safer, more powerful, carrying more bullets and being a better match to the weapons many of the criminals out there" now have.

"We're trying to bring the Orange Police Department into the modern era," said Mayor Robert L. Brown, stressing the reason the city's law enforcement agency, like the State Police and a growing number of other municipal police departments across the state, is upgrading its weaponry.

Orange purchased 100 new 9mm weapons, for a $25,000 fee that includes trading in the old .38 guns and getting new 9mm holsters, bullet clips and some ammunition to boot.

"The criminals are well armed," Brown maintained, echoing Cobbertt, "and the police department has to be well armed, also."

The old .38-caliber guns allowed police to fire up to six shots per loading.

In comparison, Cobbertt said, the 9-mm guns hold 13 rounds of ammunition in each magazine.

Forcing Orange police to continue using .38-caliber pistols would be like "fighting Mike Tyson with one arm tied behind your back," said the mayor. "It's not that way anymore."

In recent months, Acting Police Chief Anthony Benevento noted, Orange police have confiscated .22-caliber, .38-caliber and 9mm guns from people charged with illegal possession of a weapon.

Although there have been eyewitness reports about Uzi submachine guns being used by drug traffickers in and around the city's housing projects, none of those weapons has ever been seized, Benevento added.

To date, 60 officers have received the new 9mm guns after taking a required 20 hours of training, Cobbertt said.

By the end of this week, he continued, "Everyone in the 91-member department should have a 9mm gun in their possession."

It is noteworthy, Cobbertt said, that most of the officers training on the 9mm gun "are now shooting much better" on firing range tests than they did on their twice-yearly tests for use of their .38-caliber arms.

Cobbertt reiterated the 9mm gun "is just an easier weapon to use."

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“Reach Back with One Hand and Pull Someone Else Up With You.”

– Charles C. Cobbertt

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