Trenton Cop Caught Sleeping on the Job in 2012 Now Loses Gun

You might call him the “bad luck”cop on the Trenton Police force.

Officer Richard Takach is his name. You may remember him from the picture displayed as having been the police officer who was caught sleeping on the job.

This time it’s something much worse. It turns out he’s misplaced his service weapon.

Not just any service weapon. A Glock M23 Semi-automatic handgun that, having been lost in Trenton, could easily wind up in the wrong hands.

According to this:

At 3 a.m., Takach had finished his shift and returned to the West Precinct substation at 660 Artisan Avenue.

From there, Takach gathered his gun and other personal belongings in the rear cargo area of his personal vehicle. Takach then proceeded to drive approximately 30 miles to his home in Marlton. According to police sources who requested anonymity, Takach apparently left his gun on the rear bumper and then drove off, with the gun landing in the substation parking lot.

When Takach returned home, he realized his weapon was missing and notified Sgt. Steve Wilson. At 4 a.m., Wilson alerted Officers Noel Santiago and Michael Schiaretti III about the missing gun and the two officers began searching the substation, surrounding area and the partol car Takach was using that night. When they did not recover the weapon, Wilson requested the assistance of Officer Timothy Miller and his K-9 Partner, Roy.

Roy, who was trained to sniff for explosives, did not locate the gun in the station or surrounding area. During the course of the search, Takach returned to the substation and he was joined by Santiago and Schiaretti in a drive retracing his path out of the city while carefully looking for the gun. The officers drove from the substation to city limits. The search was fruitless.

As of press time, the weapon has not been recovered.

The report lists the lost property as one Glock M23 semi-automatic handgun that is black in color loaded with 14 .40 caliber hollow point duty-rounds in a black, spring-loaded magazine cartridge. The black leather holster for the weapon is also listed as lost property.

Merely bad luck, or just plain carelessness.

We won’t know for sure.

I mean, haven’t you ever misplaced anything…your keys, your wallet, your cellphone?
Ahh, but not something as deadly as a Glock M23 semi automatic pistol.

Seeing is how this is his second lapse in behavior…I’m not sure he’s fit to stay on the Trenton Police Force.

Do you feel Officer Richard Takach should lose his job over losing his Glock M23 Semiautomatic Pistol?