Two central Wisconsin police departments have added military-style semiautomatic rifles to their arsenals.
Everest Metro Officer Shane Heilmann says the rifles will give them more confidence going into dangerous confrontations because they're more accurate.
Heilmann is one of 12 officers from the Rothschild and Everest Metro police departments who practiced with the .223-caliber rifles Thursday. The rifles are similar to the military's M-16s.
The Wisconsin Professional Police Association doesn't have a figure on the number of departments which have the guns, but says it's a significant number.
Bigger cities, including Milwaukee and Madison, have semiautomatic rifles in their police departments but not in every squad car because of the cost.
Copyright © 2000 The Associated Press
