SALT LAKE CITY -- A faulty rifle sight is still in use by national and local SWAT teams despite a recall.
Utah Highway Patrol and Unified Police Department purchased the holographic weapon sight four years ago.
“We train for hostage situations where you have to take shots at a close range in tight proximity and you just never want to chance that,” said Sgt. Todd Royce, spokesman for UHP.
The faulty sights were brought the attention of local authorities in November when the U.S. government sued the makers of the sight, L-3 Communications. The company quickly settled for $25.6 million. UHP immediately got rid of the faulty device and got their money back.
Royce said they received emails from their training department to immediately remove the rifle sights.
Four months later, some units under special operations command are still using the faulty sights.
“When we're talking about life or death situation, hostage situation where you have to take a critical shot at a critical time, we want to make sure it's exact, that it's right on,” Royce said.
The accuracy of the sights can be off by more than 20 inches for every 100 yards.
“Even if it's just slightly off we don't want that to be ever a factor,” Royce said.
FOX 13 News reached out to L-3 Communications for comment but they did not return calls.
