The Robertsdale Police Department has new tools for fighting crime, and it came from money seized from the criminals themselves.

Robertsdale Police Chief Brent Kendrick reported to the Robertsdale Council Monday night that money received from a drug seizure has been used to purchase weapons and other equipment for the police department.

“With that money, we have purchased items that probably would have been purchased later on, after we got other things done,” Kendrick said,

One of the main purchases made by the police department is a number of AR-15 rifles, which are the civilian version of the M-16 rifle.

“Most shootings now involve rifles, and rifles and shotguns don’t equal, rifles and pistols don’t equal, but rifles and rifles do,” Kendrick said.

Kendrick said they will pattern the procedure for using the rifles after a department in Tennessee and a system called “active shooter response.”

“It’s a small department;they have about 18 police officers,” Kendrick said. “They used to go in and clear a section, if you had people that were wounded, you would tend to them; even if you had an active shooter.”

Now that philosophy has changed dramatically, he said.

“Once you go in, (and you need to have at least four officers to make an entry team, five is what you really want) then you go in and immidiately respond to the active shooter,” he said. “By putting a rifle in every officers vehicle, the first four officers that arrive are the first four to go in. That way you dont have to go to the department, pick out certainweapons, try to make everything uniform, etc. Instead you go directly to the scene to address the threat.”

The department also purchased two four-wheelers using the drug seizure money.

“We were able to utilize them this week at the fair,” Kendrick said. “Not only did we have the parking lot of the fairgrounds to cover, but also had to cover the RHS parking lot, and the subdivision next to the Fairgrounds where people were parking on the lot up and down the roadway. They really helped out a lot. You’ll see officers on them at the Honeybee Festival as well as at the home football games in the parking areas.”

Independent Staff Writer Lucas Stewart and Editor John Underwood contributed to this report.