Rawlings to turn guns to cash - Wayne-Wilson News Leader, Fremont, NC

When Police Chief Ron Rawlings began working in Fremont, he did an organizational overhaul of the department. As a part of that overhaul, he cleaned out the evidence locker at the department. The cleanup turned up, among other things, a large collection of firearms.

Some of the firearms had been in the locker as long as 23 years, and Chief Rawlings said there was no reason for the weapons to be taking up space in the locker. After making sure that none of the weapons were involved in currently pending cases, the department advertised the weapons in local newspapers for the owners to come and claim if they wanted.

However, after the department ran the announcement for thirty days, 44 firearms still remained at the department.

Chief Rawlings said that, according to law, the department had two options - receive an order from a judge to destroy the weapons, or attempt to sell the weapon. Chief Rawlings asked the permission of the board to pursue the latter option.

The law has only recently been changed to allow departments to sell unclaimed firearms. It is so new, in fact, that no standardized form exists for the process of selling the weapons. Chief Rawlings worked with the district attorney’s office and the town attorney to devise a form for the process. A judge has signed and approved the sale of the weapons.

He said all but one of the weapons on the list were cleared for sale. The one firearm did not have a clear serial number, and so will be turned over to the sheriff’s department to be destroyed.

Chief Rawlings said the department has not yet determined the exact route they will pursue to sell the guns, but would only sell the guns to licensed firearms dealers.

Town Manager Kerry McDuffie said the town was looking at advertising and coming up with a specific date. Dealers would attend and submit sealed bids on groups of four or five firearms.

Mayor Devone Jones suggested that the town set a minimum bid, but Alderman Leroy Ruffin suggested that the town simply operate it as a regular auction, reserving the right to reject any unreasonable bid.

Mr. McDuffie then said he felt that if enough dealers attended, the town would receive fair bids.

Alderman Leon Mooring asked if Chief Rawlings had any idea how much money the weapons would bring in.

Chief Rawlings said that the conditions of the guns varied; the town had a few very nice pieces to sell, but also had some that aren’t in very good condition at all. He said he was hoping to bring in between $3,500 and $5,000, but could really make no expectations at this point.

“Well, we don’t have any money invested in it, so anything we can bring in is good,” said Alderman W.T. Smith.

The board unanimously approved selling the firearms.

Chief Rawlings also offered some information to the board regarding criticism he received at last month’s meeting. Several citizens had expressed concerns that the department was profiling black citizens.

However, statistics that Chief Rawlings presented to the board seem to indicate that is not the case. In the last month, he said that 23 percent of traffic charges went to black citizens, 70 percent to white, and six percent to Hispanic and Asian citizens.

He did say that the figures were skewed a bit because they did not include traffic stops following out magistrate’s orders. With those included, he estimates that 40 percent of traffic charges went to black citizens, with around 60 percent going to white.

Also, in light of recent news in Raleigh that a state trooper had been profiling women, Chief Rawlings also presented statistics on gender. He said that the department had issued 39 percent of all traffic citations to women, with 61 percent going to men.

“There’s no profiling going on here, it’s just a lot of hard work that we’re doing,” he said.

Alderman Annie Lewis said she felt the department should increase patrols on Ballance Road because she had seen a lot of youngsters out late at night.

Chief Rawlings said that he had issued a copy of the town’s curfew ordinance, which requires juveniles to be in their own yard by 9:30, and that the department is enforcing the ordinance.

“I know it’s working because I’m hearing complaints about it,” he said.

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