The St. Petersburg Police Department collected double the amount of weapons during the six-week program it would usually collect during the same timeframe.
Sawed off shotguns, 100-round magazines, a 50-calliber handgun and a 20-round shotgun magazine represent just a sliver of the 80 guns taken from criminals in St. Petersburg during a six-week gun bounty program.
Monday, St. Petersburg Police Chief Chuck Harmon held a press conference at the police headquarters to share the success of the initiative.
“Every gun here was taken from a criminal. This was in the community of St. Petersburg,” Harmon said pointing to a table of assault weapons and fully automatic weapons. “It’s out there and unfortunately too prevalent in our community.”
In total, since Feb. 28 the department collected 120 firearms, 24 pellet/bb guns, 4,123 rounds of ammunition and the seizure of nearly $74,000.
The initiative resulted in 34 arrests.
“Well this is amazing,” said Mayor Bill Foster looking at the tables of confiscated guns. “From the prospective of a civilian, (it’s) amazing and mortifying at the same time to know that these were once on the streets in the possession of criminals. It’s an eye-opener for me.”
Harmon said the program provided a window into how the department can continue to fight illegal gun ownership in the future.
Source: William Mansell, StPetePatch
