How the NRA Changed the Game for Brazos County Attorney's Office

Every day there is someone who puts their life on the line for the safety of the general public. It is their duty to serve and protect. In order to do their job, they are required to have the education, training and equipment to do so…but not every organization can afford it.

The Brazos County Attorney’s Office, in Texas, dedicated to providing professional and efficient legal service to citizens of Brazos County through the different division of the office, recently launched their Firearms Readiness Program. This program seeks to provide their Investigators proper training and equipment to best perform their civic duties. However, they have not always had the funds to do so.

In the late 1990s, when Chief Investigator Scott Biddle started with the department, he had to supply his own handgun and ammunition for everyday use and for annual qualification. After a few years, when he was promoted to a supervisory position, he requested that qualification ammunition at least be part of the yearly budget. Slowly but surely, Chief Investigator Biddle was making progress.

It wasn’t until 2005 that Brazos County, for the first time, issued agency owned handguns to their team. Unfortunately there were only three handguns for a team of nine investigators. The other six were reduced to carrying a random assortment of personally owned handguns made up of a mix of multiple manufacturers, calibers and action types – some of questionable quality and reliability.

That is when they turned to the NRA Foundation and applied for a grant. The request was for funding of handguns, shotguns, rifles and all the required accessories, so that the entire department would have standardized firearms, and everyone could be properly trained to use any one of the firearms if necessary at any time.

The NRA Foundation granted Brazos County Attorney’s Office a total of over $10,000 worth of equipment over the 2015 – 2016 calendar years. They were able to purchase 5 handguns, 3 shotguns, 6 rifles, an assortment of accessories to go along with them and 5,000 rounds of ammunition.

“We hope to never have to discharge a firearm in the line of duty, so the community at large will not notice that each Investigator carries the exact same handgun in the exact same holster,” says Chief Biddle, “But our ongoing measure of success is the increased abilities shown by all our Investigators to deploy their handgun, shotgun and rifle effectively in training and qualification.”

Knowing each investigator has the proper tools instills confidence. 

“The NRA Foundation grants have made an impact on our agency that will last for decades.”