Despite the unauthorized sale of ammunition by a now-former Lafayette Police officer, the department’s deputy chief says there are currently no plans to change department procedures for the storage and distribution of either training or on-duty ammunition.
Officer Kevin Price resigned Monday ahead of an executive session called to weigh allegations that he stole and sold police department ammunition—and to discuss his future employment with the force. Price had been on administrative leave since Nov. 2.
Deputy Police Chief Brad Bishop calls the situation with Price “a first.”
“It wasn’t a situation where we didn’t have correct safeguards in place," Bishop says. "We always keep any type of ammunition locked up in secure areas. But, that being said, officers do have access to those areas.”
Bishop says no changes are planned because police officers must use department equipment every day.
“In order to function as a police department, we have to be able to trust our officers to have access to that equipment,” Bishop says.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Price texted the man who purchased the ammunition to seek out interested buyers. That individual ultimately returned the unused boxes of bullets to the police department, which bore the same lot number as its stocked ammunition. The department conducted concurrent criminal and internal affairs investigations into the theft and sale of the ammo.
A criminal case against Price has been referred to Tippecanoe County Prosecutor Pat Harrington’s office.