Nightcrawler
Member
If you were in charge of purchasing weapons for a fairly large, well-funded police department, what would you pick? What kind of training regimen would you put together?
Today's police seem to suffer from many of the same problems the military has. In other words, bureaucrats don't want to spend enough money and time on firearms training, and the individuals involved aren't interested enough in it to become better on their own.
Keep in mind I'm not, nor have I ever been a police officer, so take my ideas for what they are; devoid of actual experience.
So the first thing I would do would be to have my officers complete a fairly healthy training cycle, with bi-monthly or so qualifications (as opposed to annual) in order to keep them on their toes. Plenty of training range time would be made available. (Of course, this is in la-la land where I could get funding for this.) It would be departmental policy to encourage officers to practice with their duty weapons whenever possible.
As for the weapons of choice? I've thought about this, actually. Jeff Cooper suggested that the ideal police service arm is a major-caliber revolver. Why revolver instead of auto? Because revolvers are simpler to use and learn. Of course, as he put it, Class A cops will take the time to become proficient with autos, but how many of those are there? (Paraphrased, can't recall exactly how he put it.)
I'd also want the duty revolver to be plenty powerful, but not offering too much recoil, so I'd go with a S&W 625 5" in .45ACP. Training with the use of moonclips, and how you can't just drop the rounds into the cylinder, would be part of joining the force. Officers would be told to carry as much spare ammunition as they felt they needed, though a minimum of two reloads would be required.
Lest anyone worry about my officers being "outgunned" by drug dealers (that was the primary reason given when many departments, even in rural areas, switched from .357s to 9mm semiautos, wasn't it?), the officers would have longarms at their disposal. Each patrol car, in addition to having two officers (so nobody's out there alone), would be supplied with a duty rifle and/or a shotgun. The rifle would be a Marlin stainless 336 .30-30 lever rifle, fitted with synthetic furniture and ghost ring sights. The shotgun would be a Remington 870 Police with ghost ring sights, so that both weapons had the same sight picture. Bi-monthly qualification on these simple, easy to use weapons would be required as well. (Since I'm living in la-la land, my force would have a large ammunition budget.) These weapons are also more cost effective than M4 carbines and are simpler to learn for non-shooters who happen to be police officers.
But to be fair to the individual officers, they would be allowed to carry any duty weapon or backup that they could demonstrate proficiency and qualify with. This way, if an officer took the time to become skilled with, say, a 1911, he/she'd be allowed to carry it on duty. The only requirements would be that the weapon must be a semiautomatic or a double action revolver, no less powerful than .38 Special or 9x19mm and no more powerful than .44 Magnum. .38, 9x19, .40, 10mm, .45ACP, .357, .44 Spec/Mag, .41 Mag, and .45 Colt would all be on the approved list, and I'd be open to suggestions within reason. But no .454 Casulls or .500 S&Ws, is all.
If both the officers assigned to a car agreed to qualify with it and demonstrated safe handling and proficiency, then they could supply their own duty rifles/shotguns as well, within guidelines.
If the situation called for more firepower than the officers with their longarms could muster, then that'd be a job for SWAT, who'd have (and would require to become VERY skilled with) the best gear that met their mission requirements (though since it's MY force, preferance would be given to .45ACP pistols and submachine guns....)
But that's just my own crazy ideas. What would you do?
Today's police seem to suffer from many of the same problems the military has. In other words, bureaucrats don't want to spend enough money and time on firearms training, and the individuals involved aren't interested enough in it to become better on their own.
Keep in mind I'm not, nor have I ever been a police officer, so take my ideas for what they are; devoid of actual experience.
So the first thing I would do would be to have my officers complete a fairly healthy training cycle, with bi-monthly or so qualifications (as opposed to annual) in order to keep them on their toes. Plenty of training range time would be made available. (Of course, this is in la-la land where I could get funding for this.) It would be departmental policy to encourage officers to practice with their duty weapons whenever possible.
As for the weapons of choice? I've thought about this, actually. Jeff Cooper suggested that the ideal police service arm is a major-caliber revolver. Why revolver instead of auto? Because revolvers are simpler to use and learn. Of course, as he put it, Class A cops will take the time to become proficient with autos, but how many of those are there? (Paraphrased, can't recall exactly how he put it.)
I'd also want the duty revolver to be plenty powerful, but not offering too much recoil, so I'd go with a S&W 625 5" in .45ACP. Training with the use of moonclips, and how you can't just drop the rounds into the cylinder, would be part of joining the force. Officers would be told to carry as much spare ammunition as they felt they needed, though a minimum of two reloads would be required.
Lest anyone worry about my officers being "outgunned" by drug dealers (that was the primary reason given when many departments, even in rural areas, switched from .357s to 9mm semiautos, wasn't it?), the officers would have longarms at their disposal. Each patrol car, in addition to having two officers (so nobody's out there alone), would be supplied with a duty rifle and/or a shotgun. The rifle would be a Marlin stainless 336 .30-30 lever rifle, fitted with synthetic furniture and ghost ring sights. The shotgun would be a Remington 870 Police with ghost ring sights, so that both weapons had the same sight picture. Bi-monthly qualification on these simple, easy to use weapons would be required as well. (Since I'm living in la-la land, my force would have a large ammunition budget.) These weapons are also more cost effective than M4 carbines and are simpler to learn for non-shooters who happen to be police officers.
But to be fair to the individual officers, they would be allowed to carry any duty weapon or backup that they could demonstrate proficiency and qualify with. This way, if an officer took the time to become skilled with, say, a 1911, he/she'd be allowed to carry it on duty. The only requirements would be that the weapon must be a semiautomatic or a double action revolver, no less powerful than .38 Special or 9x19mm and no more powerful than .44 Magnum. .38, 9x19, .40, 10mm, .45ACP, .357, .44 Spec/Mag, .41 Mag, and .45 Colt would all be on the approved list, and I'd be open to suggestions within reason. But no .454 Casulls or .500 S&Ws, is all.
If both the officers assigned to a car agreed to qualify with it and demonstrated safe handling and proficiency, then they could supply their own duty rifles/shotguns as well, within guidelines.
If the situation called for more firepower than the officers with their longarms could muster, then that'd be a job for SWAT, who'd have (and would require to become VERY skilled with) the best gear that met their mission requirements (though since it's MY force, preferance would be given to .45ACP pistols and submachine guns....)
But that's just my own crazy ideas. What would you do?
