Cops to give up .38s

For a long time, cops fought criminals with their trusty revolvers. But as it turns out, the .38-caliber standard issue handguns was hardly trusty at all.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) is removing the .38-caliber revolver from its roster of standard issue firearms—after finding what many had long suspected: the bad guys are better armed than the policemen.

“We’re the only police force in the world that still uses the .38 revolver,” said PNP spokesperson Chief Supt. Agrimero Cruz Jr.

The United States started replacing its standard issue from the .38 to 9 millimeter semiautomatics in 1989, while other countries like the United Kingdom and Australia now use 9 mm or .45-caliber pistols.

A .38-caliber revolver typically has six cartridges that must be replaced individually. This is known to cause troubles for police officers especially during a gunfight when they have to reload the revolver while the criminal is already firing away.

Cruz said the unreliable revolver, notorious in police circles for causing mishaps and misfires, had been a source of headaches for the 138,000-strong police force for a long time.

“A lot of our policemen have lost their lives because their .38 did not fire and they got shot at, or fired accidentally when they dropped it,” the official said.

He said the .38-caliber revolver would be replaced by 9 mm and .45-caliber pistols.

Clarifying a report from the Department of Interior and Local Government, Cruz said the PNP actually had a surplus of guns, with 85,689 short firearms such as 9 mm, .45-caliber and .38-caliber handguns, and 63,260 long firearms, such as rifles and shotguns.

“That’s a 110 percent fill-up, meaning all police officers have at least one gun and an extra 10 percent have two,” Cruz told a briefing.

He said an additional 10,250 short firearms and 1,125 long firearms would be procured within the year, further upping the number of weapons available to the police force.

Earlier, Interior Secretary Jesse M. Robredo said only three out of every four police officers are issued firearms by the government, and that some cops even resort to buying their own firearms.

Cruz, however, said that figure only covered short firearms and did not include long weapons.