1,000 rounds of ammunition disappear on way to Allegheny Township Police Dept.

Allegheny Township police Chief Duane Fisher didn’t have to open the box delivered to his station Monday to know there was something wrong with the delivery of ammunition for his department.

“As soon as I saw the (United Parcel Service) driver get out of the truck carrying the box rather gingerly with one hand, I knew something was up,” Fisher said. “The box should have weighed about 50 pounds. When we checked, there was no ammunition inside.”

The apparent theft of 1,000 rounds of .45 caliber ammunition comes at a time when police departments are facing a low and slow supply chain, he said.

“We need the ammunition to qualify (at the shooting range) for duty,” he said. “But, right now, there’s great difficulty getting the ammo.”

There are 10 full-time and two part-time officers in the department.

The ammunition they use is purchased through a state bulk purchasing contract with OfficerStore in Wharton, Fayette County, at a cost that is nearly half the retail price, but it’s drop shipped from a supplier in Minnesota, the chief said.

It can take between eight months and two years for an order for ammunition to be filled, he said.

“The biggest issue for us now is not that we’ll have to pay more for ammo. It’s whether we can even find it,” he said. “Everybody is facing the same issues with the supply.”

Fisher said he refused delivery of the box when it was delivered from United Parcel Service, which is conducting an internal investigation into what happened to the ammunition between Minnesota and the police station on Community Building Road.

All ammunition shipments in the United States must be done via a private company, such as UPS or FedEx, because federal law prohibits the shipment of ammunition through the U.S. Postal Service.

OfficerStore also was contacted to look into what might have happened with the delivery.

The box, which is slightly larger than a shoe box, had safety stickers attached indicating it contained live ammunition.

“I guess there’s a possibility that during the automated packing process something went wrong and the ammo fell out,” Fisher said. “But all the paperwork was still folded neatly in the box, and it appeared that a poor attempt to tape it shut was made.”

Fisher said it also is concerning that the ammunition, which would sell for about $1 a round on the street, could end up in the wrong hands.

“Unlike a firearm, which can be traced, there’s no way to trace where this ammunition might end up,” he said.