By AMY HILL HEARTH

March 12, 1989, Sunday, Late City Final Edition

Page 1, Column 1; Westchester Weekly Desk

Copyright 1989 The New York Times Company

The police in Yonkers, the city of Rye, the village of Ossining, the town of Harrison and the village/town of Mount Kisco are among those expected to make the change before the end of next year. Police officers in Ossining will start carrying the semiautomatic in a matter of weeks. The transition is not a speedy one. Police departments must decide what models they prefer, arrange the financing and provide special training sessions for their officers.

Police departments testing different models of 9-millimeter semiautomatics include the County Department of Public Safety. The village of Tarrytown and the White Plains Police are determining if there is a need to change handguns.

The two weapons are roughly equivalent in power, but the primary advantages of the 9-millimeter semiautomatic pistol are that it can fire up to 19 bullets without reloading, and reloading is as simple as replacing a ''clip'' or magazine. A .38-caliber police revolver ordinarily has six cartridges, which must be replaced individually. (Some police departments also use a .357-magnum revolver with .38-caliber cartridges.) There have been several recent cases in the United States of a police officer being killed during a gun battle by an assailant using a semiautomatic while the officer was trying to reload a .38-caliber revolver. In Yonkers, on Feb. 13, three shots were fired at two police officers by a man armed with a 9-millimeter semiautomatic. The officers were not injured but the incident gave credence to local officers' fears of being ''out-gunned.''

Some police departments - particularly Yonkers but also in the city of Rye, for example - have been confiscating more semiautomatic weapons at crime scenes and from criminals. A Yonkers Police Department study headed by Capt. Robert Taggart showed a 55 percent increase in the number of semiautomatic weapons confiscated there from 1986 to 1988.

Other police departments have less substantial evidence that their .38-caliber revolvers may no longer be sufficient, but are considering a change to the 9-millimeter semiautomatic because they feel the weapon is superior and that it makes a visible statement to would-be criminals.

A few police departments, including those in the town of Bedford and the village of North Tarrytown, have for several years allowed their officers the option of choosing to buy a 9-millimeter semiautomatic weapon for on-duty use, providing that they receive permission and special training.

North Tarrytown, with 27 police officers, plans to continue this arrangement, said Lieut. James P. Brophy, the acting chief. In Bedford, where about one-third of the 37 officers have chosen to use a 9-millimeter semiautomatic on duty, a departmentwide move to the semi-automatic is ''under consideration,'' Lieut. Ted Wyskida said. The Ossining Police Department, which said it planned to provide 9-millimeter semiautomatics for its officers this year, might allow veteran officers the option of continuing to use their .38-caliber revolvers, Lieut. Joseph Burton said.

The Yorktown police last year established an emergency-services unit made up of 10 officers who are scheduled to get 9-millimeter semiautomatics this year, Capt. William M. Calcutti said. The Peekskill police are taking the same approach by acquiring five 9-millimeter semiautomatics for special uses, Lieut. Frank W. Murnin said.

Officers on patrol who are carrying the 9-millimeter semiautomatic say they feel better prepared for trouble. ''I'm much more confident with a semiautomatic pistol versus a revolver,'' said Sgt. James P. Murphy, chief firearms instructor at the Bedford Police Department, who is on patrol part-time.

But the use of 9-millimeter semiautomatic weapons by the police - especially as a standard weapon for patrol officers - has encountered criticism.

Dorothy L. DiCintio of Scarsdale - whose brother, United States Representative Allard K. Lowenstein of Long Island's Fifth District, was murdered by a handgun-wielding assailant in 1980 - is one of Westchester's most active handgun-control advocates. She is a member of Handgun Control Inc., a Washington-based national organization.

''I understand the point of view of the police but it's the kind of thing that escalates,'' she said. ''My view is that the proliferation of guns in any way, shape or form is bad. The more that are out there, the more that are used. It's terribly risky to have more semiautomatics out there, even in the hands of the police. Certainly, more innocent people will get hurt.''

The police say that they are sensitive to this concern and that the solution is proper training, which would be mandatory for all officers. In Rye, for example, training would include a ''re-emphasis'' of the circumstances in which an officer may use deadly physical force, said Police Commissioner Anthony J. Schembri, a lawyer who teaches a course on corruption and integrity in government at the Pace University Law School.

''I wish to make it absolutely clear that simply because they would have more firepower does not give officers carte blanche authority to fire at people,'' Mr. Schembri said. ''We are still under the same legal constraints.''

Police Commissioner Schembri said he expected that his 36 officers would be using 9-millimeter semiautomatics next year. The change requires approval by the Rye City Council, but he said he saw ''no reason'' why it would not vote its approval.

In Yonkers, City Manager Neil J. DeLuca has accepted the recommendation of the police commissioner, Joseph V. Fernandes, to replace the .38-caliber revolver. Pending approval by the Yonkers City Council, which Mr. DeLuca said he anticipated, the changeover will be phased in. By next summer, every Yonkers police officer should have a 9-millimeter semiautomatic, Mr. DeLuca said.

The cost of upgrading the weapons in Yonkers will be about $600,000, Mr. DeLuca said. That will include guns, holsters, ammunition and the initial training for the department's 530 officers. The old weapons will be returned to the manufacturer for refurbishing and sale.

Cost is a factor for most police departments considering the replacement of weapons. If the County Department of Public Safety decides to buy 9-millimeter semiautomatics, it may use funds from an interesting source. According to the department's commissioner, Anthony M. Mosca, those funds mostly come from confiscations in narcotics cases.

Apparently, there are few police departments that prefer a weapon other than the .38-caliber revolver or 9-millimeter semiautomatic. But the Pound Ridge police, a five-man department that supplements protection by the New York State Police, carry a Smith & Wesson .45-caliber semiautomatic. Police Chief Craig A. Jorgensen, formerly a senior firearms instructor with the state police, said it was a superior weapon.

Dobbs Ferry made the unusual move, in 1985, of going back to the .38-caliber revolver after three years of carrying 9-millimeter semiautomatics. ''We were experiencing difficulty with jamming,'' Police Chief Kevin J. Costello said, reiterating a common criticism of the semiautomatic weapon. But he added that he believed the newest models being considered for purchase by other departments had been improved, a contention nearly all officers agreed with.

Westchester police departments that may replace the revolver would be among hundreds of law enforcement agencies nationwide that have already made the transition to the semiautomatic. The New York State Police are expected to switch to semiautomatic handguns within two years.

One of the few police departments that plans to stay with the .38-caliber revolver is New York City's force of 28,000, where fewer than 1,000 officers - mostly detectives or members of special narcotics units - use a 9-millimeter semiautomatic, said Capt. John C. Cerar, commanding officer of the firearms and tactics section.

''In a typical situation, a 9-millimeter semiautomatic is not necessary in New York City,'' he said. ''A gunfight is atypical. I'd rather train my officers to shoot better with what they have.''

Captain Cerar conceded that some smaller police departments might see a need for the 9-millimeter semiautomatic because back-up units during a shootout were not readily available.

''The officer on the street should have a state-of-the-art weapon,'' said the Ossining Town Police Chief, James J. Krebser, whose 11-man department will start training soon with 9-millimeter semiautomatics that have already been purchased. ''Our gun-related incidents have been minimal, but I like to think of it as an insurance polcy,'' referring to the new weapon.

But the 9-millimeter semiautomatic pistol may itself be no match for drug dealers. The Yonkers police have confiscated several fully automatic machine guns. Even the Yorktown police in northern Westchester have confiscated at least one Uzi, a popular weapon among drug traffickers that is manufactured in both semiautomatic and fully automatic models.

''We'll still be two steps behind the drug dealers even with the 9-millimeter,'' said Chief Krebser of Ossining.

That is why many police officials say they have no choice but to replace the .38-caliber revolver that long has been the policeman's favorite. As Chief Krebser said:

''We have to give our guys a fighting chance.''

Special to the New York Times

Section 1; Page 34, Column 3; Metropolitan Desk

September 27, 1986, Saturday, Late City Final Edition

Copyright 1986 The New York Times Company

With some criminals these days using more sophisticated weapons, some police departments in the New York area are turning to new weapons that give them more firepower.

But the changes by the police departments have also prompted a debate in law enforcement about the nature of police weaponry and which gun, if any, is the best one to keep the peace.

What many police departments are encountering, Federal firearms experts say, are an increasing number of automatic weapons, like machine guns. Two of these, the MAC 10 and MAC 11, can be equipped with silencer devices and can deliver 850 rounds per minute.

''There has been a tremendous increase in machine guns,'' said Robert J. Creighton, special agent in charge of the New York district of the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

The police departments that have recently changed the guns used by their officers have generally chosen a 9-millimeter semiautomatic pistol, some of which can fire as many as 20 rounds without being reloaded.

The police in this Nassau County community switched to a 9-millimeter pistol five years ago in an effort to keep up with ''a rash of heavily armed people coming into the area,'' according to a department spokesman, Lieut. Robert Payette.

The standard police issue has long been the .38-caliber revolver, a handgun with a cylindrical magazine that holds six cartridges. This is the standard handgun for New York City police officers.

The issue of firepower for police spread after an incident in Far Rockaway, Queens, last summer. On June 28, a rookie police officer, Scott Gadell, armed with his service revolver, became involved in a shootout with a suspect armed with a semiautomatic weapon. Officer Gadell was shot and killed while he was trying to reload his weapon, the police said.

In general, the magazines of semiautomatic handguns hold between 9 and 20 cartridges. They often can be fired more rapidly and have a greater muzzle velocity - more impact power - than standard service revolvers.

But many police departments say the revolver, combined with proper training and the use of speed loaders for reloading, is a more reliable and effective weapon.

Other local departments in the metropolitan area, as well as the state police in New Jersey and Connecticut, have also changed to semiautomatic guns. The Connecticut State Police's decision to change weapons in 1983 -to a 9-millimeter Beretta 92-SB - was based on ''a series of events which occurred where police officers were seriously outgunned by criminals or different domestic terrorist groups,'' said Sgt. Daniel Lewis, a spokesman.

A year later, on Aug. 5, 1984, the sergeant added, two escaped convicts from Tennessee started a gun battle with Connecticut state troopers during a car chase. The suspects were armed with a 9-millimeter semiautomatic handgun and machine guns. They fired 130 rounds at the troopers.

''No police officer was injured,'' Sergeant Lewis said, ''and we attribute that directly to the 9-millimeter gun, which made it possible to return fire while operating the vehicles. It would have been physically impossible to reload the revolver in the same situation.''

The New Jersey State Police also changed from revolvers to semiautomatic hanguns - the Heckler & Koch P-7M8. Each trooper is normally issued four magazines with eight cartridges each.

''We wanted the fire power equivalent to what's out in the field now,'' said Capt. Joseph Kobus, a spokesman for the state police. ''We can shoot 41 rounds from an automatic in the time it takes the revolver to shoot 12 rounds.''

The Connecticut State Police also reports that only six semiautomatics have needed repairs in four years. Their revolvers had been breaking down at a rate of 60 to 90 a year.

Several local departments in both states have also switched and the New York State Police are studying the subject, officials said.

But most of the 27,000 police officers in New York City still carry Smith & Wesson .38-caliber revolvers. The department's rationale for holding to the standard weapon underscores an argument about safety among law-enforcement officials about the merits of the six-shot revolver versus the semiautomatic.

The authorities in New York City seem more concerned with safety in close urban quarters than with firepower. They say that in 1985 there were 217 incidents in which police officers fired their weapons. Only 47 of these involved gun fights and in only 8 did an officer have to reload a weapon.

Most gun fights are over in seven seconds, with the police officer firing just three or four rounds, said Capt. John C. Cerar, commanding officer of the department's firearms and tactics section.

What is more, the 9-milimeter cartridge in the semiautomatic has a high velocity, city police say. It can pass thought the body of an assailant and strike a citizen.

Also, Captain Cerar said, when city police need weapons more sophisticated than their service revolvers, they can get them quickly.

Finally, the city police have stayed with their revolvers because they believe them to be more reliable than semiautomatics, some of which have a tendency to jam.

''The incident of a police officer being injured because of a gun malfunctioning is zero,'' said Captain Cerar. ''Reliability is the No. 1 factor.''