Little Rock Police Chief Kenton Buckner Loses Gun, Gets Reprimanded For Misplacing Glock During Move

A police chief in Little Rock, Arkansas, was reprimanded this week after he revealed he had lost one of his guns. Kenton Buckner, whose one-year anniversary at the Little Rock police department is June 30, reportedly misplaced his .40-caliber Glock 27 when he moved into a new house over Memorial Day weekend, Arkansas Online reported.

"He couldn't find it," Little Rock Police Lt. Steven McClanahan told THV 11. "He looked everywhere for it in boxes and stuff like that...he had people in and out of his house, but he decided -- per policy and for accountability reasons -- to make an incident report."

Buckner reported the gun as lost or stolen because he wasn't sure whether he lost it or someone such as a mover or cable company representative picked it up. Buckner wrote in a Monday letter to City Manager Bruce Moore that he didn't handle or carry it every day because it was his backup weapon.

"I have no reason to believe a crime has occurred but cannot be certain, which is why I listed the property as lost [or] stolen," Buckner wrote. "My apologies for any negative light this may shed on our agency."

The gun was worth about $460, which Buckner said he will pay back after the "regrettable moment," KARK 4 reported. Buckner received a letter of reprimand after telling the department he'd lost the gun. He was rebuked for improper or negligent handling of city property. Although policy allows Buckner to challenge the reprimand, he told Arkansas Online he won't.

"As chief, I have to be held accountable for my actions," Buckner said. "I was responsible for the firearm. I'm held to the same standards, if not higher, that my [officers] are held to."

He's not the first police officer to lose his weapon. In Trenton, New Jersey, in 2013, Richard Takach was disciplined after leaving his gun "somewhere on the side of his car or his bumper" after a night shift, Fox 29 reported. Earlier this year, police in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, launched a search for a stun gun that an officer accidentally left on the roof of his car.