Not too long ago, the Ripon Police Department accepted a bid for some old department-issued Glocks.

The surplus equipment – 31 handguns in all, mostly Glock 22s – went out to bid, in accordance with the Ripon Municipal Code and state law.

The most equitable bid was $7,873, said Police Chief Ed Ormonde in his report at the March 14 City Council.

The sale was contingent on approval by Council members – they did so, voting 5-0, in turn, declaring the listed the police department equipment to be designated as surplus.

Vice Mayor Leo Zuber noted that in the future, he would prefer an item such as this come before the council for approval prior to the bidding process.

Police continually analyze the functionality and use of department equipment, according to Ormonde.

“At a point in each piece of equipment’s life cycle, a determination must be made if the equipment is still useful, and is cost efficient to repair or upgrade,” he said.

Once an item has served its original purpose and no longer provides value to the department or city, police will designate the equipment as surplus. In doing so, the department can determine to disburse or dispose of the equipment in “the most equitable, efficient, and cost-efficient manner” in order to ensure maximum value is recovered from the item, said Ormonde.

He added: “With the surplus designation, the department will upgrade from our current Glock Generation 4 firearm pistol platform to the Glock 47 MOS.

“The upgrade will allow the department to migrate to pistol optics.”

The cost of the upgrade is $16,660, with a portion of that – specifically, $7,873 from the recent bid – being offset by the disposition of the surplus property.