The Vermont State Police is investigating the theft of a VSP cruiser and a patrol rifle that was taken from the vehicle.
The cruiser was stolen from outside a residence in Rutland City between 2 a.m. and 4:40 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 17. The cruiser was subsequently located elsewhere in Rutland City, but the Sig Sauer patrol rifle that had been secured in the vehicle had been forcibly removed. The circumstances of the vehicle theft are under active investigation.
Surveillance video in the area captured images of the suspect carrying the rifle. A photo is attached to this release. Anyone with information regarding the suspect’s identity or who might be able to assist investigators in this case is asked to call the Vermont State Police in Rutland at 802-773-9101. Tips also can be provided online anonymously at https://vsp.vermont.gov/tipsubmit.
Categories: Crime
Aren’t there laws against these kinds of activities? Bad guys shouldn’t have access to guns. They should at least need to wait three days before they can get the gun from the back of the police cruiser. Let’s get these guns off the streets.
Especially guns at large! I cannot think of anything more dangerous than a rifle at large, wandering around able to shoot someone at any moment.
I know.. such hypocrisy in VT with new laws for legal owners.
An unlocked cruiser with keys in it??
Sounds like it’s time to TAKE BACK VERMONT
Good point. Those of us who purchase our firearms legally have to wait 72 hours to take possession. This douche used the 5 fingered “theft loophole”. The anti-gun groups must be outraged…
I understand that some our “leadership” in the legislature wet themselves on reading this news item.
Now that takes a bit of nerve. Stealing a cop car…wow. Interesting color of shoes….someone has to know who wears them. Fingerprints in the cruiser? Anything? Hope they find him before he uses or sells the gun.
A Sig Sauer duty rifle was stolen from a locked (?) State Police cruiser ? And our disingenuous legislators in Mount Peculiar think it proper to craft a law to make it illegal for citizens to have a firearm immediately available for our own protection under the guise of “theft protection, and safety”. Anybody else see an assinie peice of hypocricy here ?
Not having read the actual “safe storage law” we now have hanging over us in Vermont, it would be interesting to note if that law was in fact violated in this case by whomever was entrusted with the weapon and if there is a carve out exception for law enforcement. The perp does not appear to be a “juvenile” however, which means that he is old enough to know better.
In any case, we have TOUGH, EXISTING federal gun laws that apply to the theft of and the possession of a stolen firearm, and tough penalties for possession by a prohibited person. These EXISTING laws should be enforced to the letter.
18 U.S.C. S.922(g) – possession of a firearm or ammunition by a felon, fugitive or drug user – 10 yrs.
18 U.S.C. S.922(j) – possession of a stolen firearm – 10 yrs.
18 U.S.C. S.922(I) – shipping, transporting or receipt of a firearm across state lines with intent to commit a felony – 10 yrs
18 U.S.C. S.924(a)(1)(A) -carrying, using or possessing a firearm in connection with a federal crime of violence or drug trafficking – 5 to 30 yrs. consecutive mandatory minimum sentences
18 U.S.C. S.924(j) – for committing murder while possessing a firearm in connection with a crime of violence or drug trafficking – Death or up to life imprisonment
18 U.S.C. S.924(e) for a “prohibited person” who has three prior convictions for drug offenses or violent felonies – 15 years mandatory minimum
18 U.S.C. S.924(g) – for interstate travel to acquire or transfer a firearm to commit crimes – 10 yrs.
Secured in a vehicle or not, what kind of idiot leaves a issued rifle in the vehicle?
In case of immediate need, law enforcement as well as private citizens need ready access to weapons of defense, and having them hidden away makes them useless. I dont blame the victim. You should be able to leave anything in a vehicle and not have someone mess with it. The law should come down like a hammer on anyone who steals a firearm.
A Sig Sauer Police Patrol Rifle? Oh! you mean a Sig Sauer M400 AR-15 platformed rifle. I wonder how many rounds our staatspolizei are allowed to have in their magazines?
https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2020/03/13/vermont-state-police-adopts-sig-sauer-m400-pro-rifles-as-patrol-rifle/
The SIG SAUER M400 Pro is an AR-platform rifle with a direct impingement gas operating system. The M400 features a full-length free-float M-LOK™ handguard, enhanced SIG trigger, 6 position telescoping stock, a rotating lock bolt, and is chambered in 5.56 NATO.
The FBI, ATF, DEA, DHS, IRS, EPA, Dept. of Labor, Postal Service, Bureau of Land Management, Vermont State Police and other government agencies all use the AR-15. In those agencies hands they are called PDWs or Personal Defense Weapons. They call our AR-15s Assault Weapons and Weapons of War. Only good for killing as many people as possible. Got it yet?
Heinrich Himmler: “Germans who wish to use firearms should join the SS or SA, ordinary citizens do not need guns, as their having guns doesn’t serve the state”.
I have a m400. So to be clear in their hands it’s a patrol rifle but in mine it’s an assault rifle??
Just an example of how the terminology is case-specific and subject to interpretation…
“But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought”.
George Orwell
What I find interesting with this and bank robberies. Why do they have such crappy cameras. Mine are better and mine are not that expensive.
What’s up with low quality surveillance footage and still shots on these types of criminals when we can get clear footage of the attacks that happened recently?