Iowa Department of Public Safety picked gun vendor after another was disqualified

Smith & Wesson was chosen to provide handguns to the Iowa Department of Public Safety after Glock was disqualified because its guns didn't have a desired safety feature, according to contract documents made public Friday.

Public Safety Commissioner Roxann Ryan said Thursday she put three Iowa State Patrol officers on paid leave while the agency conducts an internal review of its handgun purchases, specifically Smith & Wesson contracts.

Emails examined by The Gazette through an open records request showed officers were concerned about the safety of their firearms.

At least some of the agency's guns did not function as intended, said Caleb Hunter, spokesman for the Iowa Department of Administrative Services.

The internal investigation, to be conducted by two retired agents from the Division of Criminal Investigation, will include the process used to award handgun contracts between April 2013 and March 2015.

Public Safety was looking in 2014 to replace all handguns used by law enforcement officers in the Iowa State Patrol, DCI and Department of Natural Resources with guns by a single vendor.

One of the requirements was that the new gun include a magazine safety lever, which prevents the gun from firing when the magazine is removed.

Two companies, Smith & Wesson and Glock, bid on the state contract, worth about $28,800.

Smith & Wesson promised to take all the state's functioning service weapons in exchange for new M & P 40-caliber semi-automatic polymer pistols. Any new guns the state would need would cost $360 apiece, according to the Smith & Wesson proposal dated June 23, 2014. The Springfield, Mass., company offers full-size or compact M & P 40s.

Kiesler Police Supply of Jefferson, Ind., also bid, offering full-size or compact Glock Gen4 40-caliber pistols new or as trade-ins.

Glock was disqualified from the bidding process because its guns didn't include the magazine safety lever,

'During the testing and evaluation, all handguns were tested to ensure that handguns were unable to fire with magazine removed,” according to the July 2, 2014, notice of intent to award the bid to Smith & Wesson. 'Both the Glock full size and compact fired with the magazine removed.”

Because Glock was disqualified, the company's cost proposal was not considered. The company did not appeal the decision, Hunter said.

Smith & Wesson did not return requests for comment Friday.

Maj. Todd Misel, Maj. Michael Winter and Lt. Richard Pierce are on paid leave during the investigation. Retired DCI agents Ronald Mower and Kirk Nielsen will be conducting the probe. Their contracts state they will be paid $2,000 a week up to a total of $5,000, which seems to indicate a short investigation.