What to do with 58,000 rounds of ammo? Pewaukee must decide

By Mike Johnson of the Journal Sentinel

Posted: March 16, 2010 |(36) Comments

City of Pewaukee - In the wake of the breakup of the Police Department, city officials are trying to resolve a couple of nagging questions: What are they going to do with the 58,000 rounds of ammunition that are left over and why did the department stockpile so much?

The 58,000 rounds of handgun, rifle and shotgun ammunition are about five times more than a department the size of the city force would require in a year for duty and training purposes, some city officials said.

"It seems like it is way in excess of what you would need," Mayor Scott Klein said. "It begs the question of why it got up to so much and why would you continue to purchase it."

A Waukesha County sheriff's lieutenant told city officials that a department the size of the former city department - about 25 officers - would need slightly fewer than 11,000 rounds of ammunition a year.

The city disbanded its police department at the end of 2009 and began contracting with the Sheriff's Department for police to save an estimated $800,000 this year.

But Ald. H. Roger Hathaway, who is challenging Klein for mayor in the April 6 election, and former police officer Robert Kraemer both said having 58,000 rounds of ammo isn't out of the ordinary.

They said the sheriff's lieutenant's estimate based on 25 officers was low. Kraemer said the department had roughly 28 officers and another 10 lake patrol officers who did training shoots four times a year.

Hathaway, who opposed disbanding the Police Department, estimated about 30,000 rounds would have been spent during those shoots.

Some of the stockpile can be attributed to the fact two shooting sessions were canceled because of budget cuts, Kraemer said.

Additionally, Kraemer said, the department had been transitioning from having several different calibers of ammunition for handguns to having officers use the same caliber. The decision to use only .40 caliber also contributed to the stockpile, he said.

Hathaway and Kraemer also noted that for a time ammunition was in short supply because of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

City officials, meanwhile, are hoping to sell the excess ammo - City Administrator Tammy LaBorde said there are about eight different calibers - and are trying to determine just how much it is worth.

A couple of boxes of ammo even came rolling in this year, a month or two after the department had been disbanded but apparently ordered before the department's demise. LaBorde said the city sent it back.

Although he opposes selling the ammunition, Hathaway said the sale could bring in at least $14,000.

Hathaway believes the city should not sell police equipment until a court challenge over the disbanding is resolved.

Sheriff Dan Trawicki said the city should not have any trouble selling the ammunition.

"It's a high volume of ammunition, that is true. But I don't know the last time they ordered it and between the wars, prices have really gone up," he said of Pewaukee's stockpile. "No doubt, we'll buy some of it," he said.