Philadelphia Sheriff's Office disputes 'misleading' controller report that 76 service guns still missing

PHILADELPHIA - An impassioned press conference saw the Philadelphia Sheriff's Office fire back at a report filed by the city Controller's Office claiming that 76 service weapons are still missing with insufficient records.

The report stated that the missing guns include 71 handguns, four semi-automatic handguns and one shotgun, and are all part of an initial 101 service weapons reported missing in 2020. In total, the controller still considers the 185 guns unaccounted for and recommended that the office report them to police as missing.

Missing guns that were not a part of the department's arsenal were confiscated from people subject to protection-from-abuse orders, according to the report.

Sheriff Rochelle Bilal responded to what she called "misleading statements" by presenting a 159-page book that her office submitted on June 8, including details, descriptions and diagrams of their investigation.

"Our deputies were able to locate paperwork for 80 guns, 57 service weapons and 23 firearms that were still registered to retirees," Bilal said. "At that time, we concluded that 57 guns were found. When the investigation was complete, we concluded that 58 firearms were found, 20 are still considered missing, and we presumed 18 have been traded or burned."

However, the Controller's Office stated in their report that an investigation could not confirm those claims, stating that the necessary documents have not been provided.

"There needs to be sufficient identifying information to confirm the disposition of these guns," said Charles Edacheril, Acting City Controller. "This requires documentation to confirm weapons were properly disposed of, such as burned, or located and reported to the National Crime Information Center."

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The sheriff went on to say her office had not been contacted since, calling into question the Controller's Office handling of the current investigation, as well as their expectations.

"Simply put, we cannot answer inconsistencies that derive as a result of that record keeping in the past."

Moments later, the sheriff displayed photos of what the armory looked like when she took office: boxes of paperwork and firearms on the floor, on top of desks and in corners.

The second group of photos shows what Bilal claims the armory looks like today: paperwork and firearms organized into stacked bins along with a secure alarm system.

"Maybe if they'd audited five years ago, maybe it wouldn't have been in that condition. And there would be no presumption of missing guns," she said. "They keep putting it on this administration. How about their responsibility that they claim that they're supposed to be the auditors of this city?"