Campbell County has limited its acquisitions from the military program to a few bulletproof vests and 5.56-millimeter rifles.

The push to upgrade Sheriff’s Office equipment started more than a decade ago, when a bank robbery suspect from Charlotte County fled into Campbell and wrecked his getaway car.

When a Campbell County deputy drove up to the scene, the suspect opened fired with an assault rifle.

“He really had nothing to return fire with,” Campbell County Sheriff Steve Hutcherson said. “At that time, they had shotguns as backup weapons and then their sidearms. But when you’re up against an assault rifle with a range of several hundred yards and you have nothing with that kind of range, you’re basically out of that fight.”

The military rifles came to the Sheriff’s Office as automatic weapons. The office converted them to semiautomatic.

The rifles aren’t used often, Hutcherson said, but can be crucial in dangerous situations to safeguard officers and the public.

“We train with them [the rifles] like we do a sidearm and they have their place,” he said. “... If we can get them for no charge, that’s definitely the way I want to go.”