Like other products, ammunition also has an expiration date. Agents from the Market Police Division (Polimerc), attached to the National Civil Police (PNC), are among those officers who claim to have bought their own ammunition on more than one occasion, because they are not replaced by the police institution when they reach their expiration date.
Officers from other units say they have had the same problem, although they acknowledge that the situation is beginning to change with the new protocols being implemented.
Dead ammunition
Carlos Aquino, director of Táctica y Seguridad GT and a specialist in weapons and ammunition, says that bullets can last a long time if stored properly. However, if they come into contact with water or are stored in humid places, they will be damaged and will not work when fired, so it is recommended to change them every 6 months.
“Many will say that I am exaggerating, but it has to do with the environment in which they remain. If they get wet, they must be changed immediately. I am talking about those that are carried in the weapon. If they are in storage, they can last much longer,” he said.
“It’s not that all ammunition fails after six months, but if the gunpowder gets wet, the primer will not ignite inside the casing and the warhead will not come out; it is a dead ammunition,” he added.
One of the risks for police officers, according to Aquino, is that they find themselves in risky situations on a daily basis and do not know when they will have to use their firearms, so the ammunition must be in perfect condition.
“I have had ammunition for years, but it is for practice and if it fails, it is not a problem because it is practice, but with my personal weapon I do try to rotate it from time to time to be sure that it will work, there is no need to risk it not working,” he added.
This year, the Ministry of the Interior (Mingob) has acquired 312 thousand rounds of ammunition of different calibers for Q977,500, according to the Guatecompras website. Of that amount, 275 thousand are for the academy students to practice live shooting. It has also sought to ensure that the agents have more practice time, since it was determined that there were higher-ups who practiced shooting only when they entered the police institution.
The director of the PNC, David Custodio Boteo, states that when he took over the direction of the institution, they started from “zero” to provide ammunition to the agents, because many loaded their hoppers with five and six ammunitions, a situation that put them at risk in the event of a confrontation because they would not respond adequately, so this year 2 million 875 thousand 500 ammunitions have been distributed nationwide, both for shooting practice, as well as for the agents who make up police stations and specialized units.
“A plan has been made to buy and supply the police stations with ammunition, and it was also agreed to change the ammunition every year because until last year this was not done, first the shells would rust and they were not changed,” he said.
Boteo explained that when an agent is assigned a pistol, he is provided with 30 rounds of ammunition and two magazines or hoppers, and they must carry them loaded.
The police chief explained that if an officer does not have ammunition, the head of the police station or substation must manage it. However, Boteo says that there is still a lack of management and that this is not being done, which is why he has issued warnings and warns of sanctions if this is not done.
“If an agent participates in a confrontation and uses 20 rounds of ammunition, the chief must request 20 rounds of ammunition by means of an official letter, because there must also be a certain control; bullets cannot be given out all the time because they can be sold and used in criminal acts,” he added.
“If an agent used five rounds of ammunition, he must report why he used them,” Boteo said.
Spent
In 2023, the Ministry of the Interior acquired 2 million 200 thousand 5.56 mm caliber ammunition for Q19 million 250 thousand. Part of that batch of bullets was used for shooting practice.
In 2022, the Mingob acquired 10 million 9 mm caliber ammunition at Q27 million, intended solely for shooting practice that is now mandatory for the entire PNC, including administrative personnel.
According to police chiefs, the drills are carried out every six months, as a strategy that was implemented because there were officers who for 20 years did not shoot again or receive tactics to avoid being disarmed.
Until 2022, shooting was only mandatory for those seeking to join the institution, those seeking to join investigative units such as the National Division against Criminal Development of Gangs (Dipanda) and the General Subdirectorate of Anti-Narcotics Analysis and Information (Sgaia), and those seeking a promotion to officer or commissioner.
To ensure that everything runs smoothly and that the officers are sufficiently trained, the training is done in groups. They go to each police station and not all of them have to come to the academy in the capital to practice, because they are provided with the Army training grounds.
Mario Mérida, former Vice Minister of the Interior and security analyst, says that while shooting practice is important for officers to be sufficiently trained, officers must also adapt to technology and to do so the ministry should invest in virtual shooting ranges, which, in his opinion, are as practical as “a video game,” but even better at reflecting a real situation in which officers have to know how to act.
“In each training session, each police officer receives 50 projectiles. A box with 50 9 mm caliber ammunition, which are used in training and cost between Q125 and Q150,” he said.
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