Who Guards the Guards: Long Beach Officer Charged With Stealing Guns

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that veteran Long Beach Police Officer Damian Ramos has been charged with more than a dozen felony counts for allegedly stealing weapons. These guns had been turned over by a local business.

The paper noted:

“Authorities allege that Ramos took the weapons between Aug. 2 and Aug. 5. According to police officials, he handled guns that had been turned over to the department by a Long Beach business. But police officials later found that the number of weapons taken from the business did not match those catalogued in evidence. Ramos took four firearms that were supposed to be booked as property, prosecutors said. The department has recovered one, but the other three are still missing, prosecutors said.”

The result is now that three firearms could be on the streets, and thus we can thank a former lawman for putting guns on the streets. But it also makes us question the policy of handing in guns. The business that had handed in those guns could have easily kept them and said firearms wouldn’t actually be on the streets now, would they?