TAZEWELL, Va. — Click here for video
Money donated by a local civic organization is being used to purchase new sidearms for the sworn officers of the Tazewell County Sheriff’s Office.
The Tazewell County Lodge No. 198, Loyal Order of Moose, presented the sheriff’s office with a total of $25,550 Thursday to pay for 55 new handguns and 55 new holsters.
Sheriff Brian Hieatt said during the presentation at the Moose Lodge that 15 years ago, the Moose helped purchase the firearms his department now uses.
“Fourteen or 15 years ago, deputies had to carry their own weapons. Whatever you went out and bought, that was what you carried. This Moose Lodge right here gave a donation that long ago so the sheriff’s office at that time could buy weapons for everybody. Some of those weapons are what we’re carrying today,” Hieatt said.
Deputies and other officers now carry three different types of firearms, but the Moose donation will allow the sheriff’s office to purchase new .357 Glocks, said Chief of Operations Mike Shawver.
“There’s nothing wrong with the guns we have right now. They do have a little age on them, but the 9 mm we currently carry is, pretty much across the board, being phased out across the country,” Shawver said.
“The Glocks that we are getting are going to be in the .357 caliber. It’s a more powerful round. We just think it gives our officers better protection.”
The department’s patrol officers now carry Beretta 9 mm pistols. Officers on courthouse duty carry Smith & Wesson .40 caliber handguns, and the detective division is equipped with a subcompact Glock 9 mm, he said.
When the new Glocks arrive, all of the sheriff office’s sworn officers will be equipped with them.
“Everybody in our department will be carrying the same magazine for the guns,” Shawver said. “They’re interchangeable, and the best part of it is that the ammunition will be interchangeable.”
Harry Nolley, administrator of the Tazewell County Moose Lodge No. 198, said the .357 Glock will be a better weapon for the sheriff’s office.
“We want the sheriff’s office to have the best protection they can have because what they run into out there is a dangerous situation,” Nolley said. “We raised all this money through our social quarters. Last year, we gave $120,000 to charity.”
Officers will have to qualify on a practice range with their new Glocks before they turn in their present sidearms, Hieatt said.
Within two months, Regency Real Estate & Auction in Bluefield, Va. will auction off those guns. The proceeds will be used to help fund Moose projects in the community.
