Bethlehem

A loaded handgun was reported missing last month by Albany police Officer Christian M. Mesley, who is a longtime firearms instructor for the department.

Mesley, formerly president of the Albany Police Officers Union and its umbrella union, Council 82, filed a report with the Bethlehem Police Department on April 10 saying he may have lost his gun two days earlier at an old quarry that's used as an outdoor gun range by police officers.

Mesley, 47, has been an officer with the Albany department for more than 20 years. The gun he lost was a personal weapon, according to a police report.

Mesley told Bethlehem police he recalled having the pistol, a .40-caliber Glock 27, at about noon that Tuesday and couldn't find the gun more than six hours later "when he went to locate the item." The gun was in a black leather holster and equipped with "night sights," according to a police report.

"The firearm was loaded with 10 rounds of Speer Gold Dot Blazer 180 grain ammunition," the police report states.

Police searched the former quarry where Mesley said he may have lost the gun but could not find it.

Albany police Chief Steven Krokoff on Thursday said the gun has not been found. The chief said Mesley remains on active duty and filed a missing-gun report with his own department and that the incident is the subject of an internal investigation.

"He is one of several range instructors we have," Krokoff said. "He works within the training unit."

A spokesman for the Bethlehem Police Department said they issued a bulletin on the missing weapon in a statewide database monitored by law enforcement agencies.

blyons@timesunion.com • 518-454-5547 • @blyonswriter