The Madison Police Department will likely implement a new program that would allow officers to voluntarily purchase their own individual AR-15 assault rifles, leaving them equipped with personally sighted — and therefore more accurate — weapons.

According to the proposal, MPD would use its purchasing authority to bear the initial $100,000 cost of the weapons, but would later be reimbursed through 52 equal deductions of participating officers’ paychecks. Currently, MPD owns 142 universally-sighted assault rifles shared among patrol officers.

“This sets up a program where it allows officers to have their own rifles that are sighted to them,” Ald. Bryon Eagon, District 8, said. “When you’re in the moment … you want to feel comfortable and confident with the sighting of your own rifle rather than using a standardized sighting that could not be as accurate.”

The proposed program resembles MPD’s handgun purchase program where officers reimburse the department for the cost of the handguns through 26 equal paycheck deductions, according to the proposal.

Ald. Paul Skidmore, District 9, while acknowledging personally-sighted rifles “could be very important and could save lives,” has voiced concerns over several components to the proposal. Skidmore said he opposes police officers having to purchase their own equipment.

“I have a hard time philosophically saying that a city employee should buy their own personal tools, whether it is a computer or a gun,” Skidmore said. “In the past I have supported amendments to allow the city to buy individual rifles so that each officer had their own personal rifle and could sight it. The council decided not to support that.”

Furthermore, there is the issue of liability insurance if the rifles were misused or stolen. Skidmore, a member of the Public Safety Review Committee alongside Eagon, plans to propose amendments to address these concerns.

These include keeping rifles in the department’s armory and clarifying who is responsible for liability insurance, Skidmore said.

Likewise, Eagon remains somewhat hesitant to throw his support behind the proposal.

“I recognize the rational need for individualized sighting and how it relates to accuracy, but it’s not something I’m super energetic about supporting because any time you deal with issues of weapons, especially assault rifles, there are a lot of details that need to be addressed related to storage, access, and accountability,” Eagon said.

Joel Plant, assistant to Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, said he believes the rifle purchase program is a no-lose situation for the city, which would worst case scenario be reimbursed within two years.

The resolution, which was passed unanimously through the Public Safety Review Committee and subsequently passed by the Board of Estimates, will go before City Council Oct. 6 for a final vote.