Dallas Police Equipment May Be in Wrong Hands

Power comes with a badge and a gun, but that police equipment may be in the wrong hands.

An NBCDFW investigation into lost or stolen police equipment found over the past 18 months Dallas police officers reported at least nine badges, eight official identification cards, ten uniforms and two pistols lost or stolen.

"They're doing it to have power over their victim and ultimately commit another crime, whether it's a sexual assault or robbery against their victims," said Dallas Police Sr. Cpl. Kevin Janse. "That's our biggest concern-- that this police equipment is now in the wrong hands."

Former federal agent A.J. Irwin finds it disturbing that of the 51 items lost or stolen, only one gun and one jacket have been recovered.

"Gang members can use them to conduct raids on houses, home invasion robberies," said Irwin. "They need to be out there proactively looking to try to recover this stuff."

In most cases the thieves stole the police equipment from the officers' personal vehicles.

"It's very serious You know, we try instill in our officers [to] use the same crime prevention methods we preach to the citizens," said Janse, referring to the "Lock, Take and Hide" crime prevention campaign.