An inspector general’s report released Thursday found that the U.S. Park Police (USPP) lost track of hundreds of firearms in its possession, revealing “a theme of inaction and indifference by USPP leadership and a lackadaisical attitude toward firearms management.”
The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) performed unannounced inspections on several weapons storage areas, revealing that “hundreds of handguns, rifles, and shotguns were not listed on official USPP inventory records.” In April 2013 alone, the report said, an inspection uncovered two automatic rifles that the USPP did not know it had in its possession.
The report said that such an incomplete weapons inventory could “allow for the possibility that weapons that cannot be located and may not be in safe keeping,” and among its recommendations the OIG urged the USPP to conduct a complete inventory and reduce the USPP’s firearms inventory to the minimum needed to arm its force.
