At least 50 firearms are still missing from the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO).
Announcing the results of an internal audit on Friday, Sheriff Paul Penzone said the missing weapons were issued between 1959 and 2006.
“We don’t know the practices of the past, we don’t know if some of these weapons were given as gifts or how they were acquired or how they left this organization but at the end of the day we need to get them all back," Penzone said.
Penzone said the department doesn’t know how long the 29 fully automatic weapons, 20 short-barrel shotguns and one short-barrel rifle have been missing.
He ordered the audit in November after a man involved in a shootout with police on Interstate-17 was found to have two MCSO weapons.
Penzone said going forward all employees and volunteers will have their gun’s serial number photographed every year.
