Crime & Law
521 Chicago Police Officers Still Using Gun Federal Judge Says Should be Banned, CPD Says
A Sig Sauer P320 pistol. (TexasWarhawk / Wikimedia Commons)
More than 500 Chicago police officers are still using a gun police union leaders believe could accidentally discharge a week after the federal judge overseeing the effort to reform the Chicago Police Department ordered them to “immediately” stop using, court records show.
U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer said in a written order issued Sept. 30 that she agreed with leaders of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 that officers who have an alternative service weapon that “meets appropriate standards should be required immediately to use that alternative weapon.”
CPD Range Master Sgt. Wasim Said told Pallmeyer that 521 officers were still carrying the Sig Sauer P320, a popular weapon with police officers and members of the military that has been the subject of dozens of complaints that it can fire without the trigger being pulled, in an affidavit filed with the court Tuesday.
While the number of officers carrying the gun “decreases daily,” Said told Pallmeyer that there is no firm timetable for all CPD officers to stop carrying the gun because of delays obtaining a new CPD-approved weapon or holster.
“The safety of our officers and all of the residents of Chicago is of the utmost importance, and our goal is to remove the P320 from service as fast as possible while still having adequate personnel available to address the emergencies that we respond to on a daily basis,” Said wrote.
Pallmeyer intervened in the dispute over the SigSauer P320 at the request of the police union, whose leaders had asked Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling to immediately ban the use of the gun, which was listed as the primary service weapon for 10% of CPD’s officers.
“It is incredibly fortunate that to date, no officer or citizen of the city of Chicago has been injured by an unintentional discharge of a P320,” union leaders told Pallmeyer, urging her to act. “If such an injury were to occur, and the injured party discovered that the incident could have been avoided by removing this known hazard and prohibiting officers from carrying the P320 on duty, this will certainly create expensive and unnecessary litigation for the city (and potentially for the officers involved).”
Lawyers for SigSauer told Pallmeyer there was no need for her to get involved in the dispute, calling the union’s assertions “both extraordinary and without any forensic and evidentiary support.”
SigSauer “vehemently denies that the P320 is defective, or that it poses an unreasonable risk to the CPD officers who carry it or to the public,” according to a filing from the gun manufacturer’s lawyer.
A 2023 investigation by The Trace and The Washington Post identified dozens of unintentional shootings involving the P320. Several law enforcement agencies banned the gun after officers suffered serious injuries, according to the news organizations.
The gun maker’s website said that while the Sig Sauer P320 “meets and exceeds all U.S. safety standards,” the company is offering “a voluntary upgrade program” that will equip the weapon with an “enhanced, upgraded trigger and slide.”
Testing “confirmed that usually after multiple drops, at certain angles and conditions, a potential discharge of the firearm may result when dropped. Although it is a rare occurrence, with very specific conditions the gun may discharge without the trigger being pulled, according to the firm’s website.
CPD’s arsenal committee voted unanimously in April to phase out the use of the Sig Sauer P320 because of “safety concerns,” CPD officials told Pallmeyer.
The police union tried several times to prevent the consent decree from taking effect in 2019 and leaders have been harshly critical of its provisions, which includes a requirement that officers are provided with safe and effective equipment.
WTTW News coverage of policing and police reform is supported by The Joyce Foundation.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
