Law Enforcement armorer

[Tacit Blue]

I was wondering if any LEO's could give me advice on how to become a armorer for a agency?


I'm considering going through school to become a gunsmith/armorer and I was wondering if agencies contract out for services or use a officer to issue? I was looking at taking Glock's course, and Colt's AR15/M16 armorers course ( If i'm able to) for starters.

thanks,

[Roddd]

Our armorers are sworn personnel. I don't know about other agencies.

[Tacit Blue]

Our armorers are sworn personnel. I don't know about other agencies.

Are they full time or reserves?

[Falconis]

They're generally full time sworn positions for a multitude of reasons. I personally havent heard of any departments farming this kind of work out to anyone (private individuals) for a multitude of reasons.

The line of thought is, the firearms are used for very specific purposes. After that purpose has occurred, there are a lot of legal work that follows up. I would think Chiefs would be hesitant to farm that sort of work out to anyone they haven't verified through ad nauseum and have some sort of control over. Then there are all the other issues.

[mixicus]

The majority of armorers I know of are sworn and this is a collateral duty. At larger departments or ones with a dedicated range staff, positions such as armorer or range master may not be sworn but they are department employees. These slots are often occupied by former LEO's.

As for farming out work, if a department can't handle a repair in-house, they'll likely send it to a neighboring department that has the expertise or send the firearm back to the manufacturer. The exception to this is for some specialized weapons such as sniper rifles. These will likely go back to the gunsmith that built in the first place.

[Steelplate45]

There are still some departments using civilian range officers and armorers

I have a buddy who is a civilian working at a city PD range in LA County.

[cacop]

The closest I have seen have been two retired guys working as rangemasters/armorers for their former agancies. Most agencies send their people to schools because it is cheap. The classes are under $500 for the most part. After that it is a collateral duty. Meaning you can make people do it in between calls for service or take them off the streets for a day to do it. If you hire an outsider you need enough work for them to do full time or find someone willing to do it part time. We really do not have much for armorers to do it full time and we have 90+ pistols to inspect every year and close to 40 rifles.

[SkyStorm82]

Ours are sworn peace officers. If I remember correctly, Orange PD had a job up on their website for armorer. This was probably around 10 years ago though. Start checking city/county websites.

[TRICKSTER]

Our armorers are sworn personnel. I don't know about other agencies.

+1. At my old agency the armorers and range staff were all sworn officers.

[1911su16b870]

The majority of armorers I know of are sworn and this is a collateral duty...

+1 this is my experience as well.

[Ron-Solo]

LASD is a sworn position and is a highly sought after position.

Being a range officer is very different than being an armorer.

[FLIGHT762]

The majority of armorers I know of are sworn and this is a collateral duty. At larger departments or ones with a dedicated range staff, positions such as armorer or range master may not be sworn but they are department employees. These slots are often occupied by former LEO's.

As for farming out work, if a department can't handle a repair in-house, they'll likely send it to a neighboring department that has the expertise or send the firearm back to the manufacturer. The exception to this is for some specialized weapons such as sniper rifles. These will likely go back to the gunsmith that built in the first place.

Ours are sworn peace officers. If I remember correctly, Orange PD had a job up on their website for armorer. This was probably around 10 years ago though. Start checking city/county websites.

+1. At my old agency the armorers and range staff were all sworn officers.

+1 this is my experience as well.

This is my experience also. I was our designated Armorer at my Department. I was sent to schools put on by manufacturers for LEO personnel. I would think there are very few departments that use non sworn personnel for armorers.

[Tacit Blue]

I found that Orange PD job everyone was referring to. Keep in mind this is not active. It shows that some Dept's have at least considered it in the past. But thanks guys, guess I'll have to look somewhere else for now. I appreciate the info.

http://agency.governmentjobs.com/orange/default.cfm?action=viewclassspec&ClassSpecID=54650

[Roddd]

I don't know how old you are, but you may want to consider enlisting. I know some former marine armorers (2112s) that are doing quite well for themselves in the private sector.