ZEV Update

As part of our ongoing investigation into the quality control issues with the agency’s proposed duty pistol, the ZEV OZ9, WFSE members discovered that the United States Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Secure Transportation (OST) also selected the ZEV OZ9 for their duty weapon. 

The DOE OST is responsible for the safe and secure transportation of the United States Government nuclear stockpile across the continental United States, a mission that requires tools that work at all times, without failure. 

A recent DOE Office of Internal Affairs (OIA) report released to WFSE members shows that for this most important of missions, ZEV delivered a pistol that is rife with failures and reliability issues. 

During a 24 day period of agent training OST observed 152 malfunctions (not including documented user induced malfunctions), including: 5 instances of frame cracking during use, the locking lug shearing off of a barrel during firing, 67 issues with light primer strike causing a failure to fire, 28 trigger malfunctions, and 12 extraction malfunctions. 

The report goes on to state that “OIA is concerned that the ZEV pistols, after approximately 19 months of testing and fielding, have not demonstrated consistent quality and reliability”. 

WFSE has brought this report to the attention of management with the hope that by working together we can resolve this issue and acquire a different, safe and reliable duty sidearm for the entirety of the Department of Corrections to replace our current aging stock. 

Below you will find a copy of the full DOE Memo.

Thank you for your attention in this matter.