I typed a such long reply in another thread, I thought it might be interesting to re-post it with its own title. I will try to ask, in the next few days, at the FTU range, how many revolver folks are still working for HPD.
Quoting myself, from the other thread, with some details added:
Two Houston PD Central Patrol Division street patrol officers still carry L-frames in their duty rigs. There are probably many more, in other divisions. These two are still working the streets, on night shift, in one division, which is significant. (There are about 43 officers on night shift in that division.) HPD went all-.40 in 1997, but many officers still carry "grandfathered" duty handguns. There are about 5000 officers working in all of HPD.
One of the above-mentioned officers has a Glock, and she has qual'ed with it, but she shoots the revolver much better. She only carried the Glock at work when her issued Safariland holster malfunctioned. Supply Division had no more to issue to her. A search of every major Safariland internet dealer showed no 070 or 6360 holsters available for the L-frame, so she had her issued holster repaired by a local leather crafter.
I think one admin officer on night shift, in the same division, still carries her L-frame. She will be retiring soon. Another night shift Central Patrol Division officer, who worked the front desk, carried his K-frame until retiring in November 2014. So, until a year ago, almost 10% of one patrol division's night shift officers, both street and desk, were still carrying revolvers on duty, but that will be cut in half within months, for a reduction of 50% within about a year. The two remaining officers have not stated their retirement plans, but might remain for several more years. The older of the two has almost 32 years of seniority, the other was hired in the early 1990s.
One HPD officer, working for another patrol division, was still carrying his 6" .44 Mag S&W sixgun on duty, quite recently, and may still be. The 6" tube indicates he has "grandfathered" it since 1987, when all duty revolvers were mandated to have 3" to 4" barrels.
I prefer to neither confirm nor deny that I work for HPD, for various reasons. I last carried revolvers in my uniformed duty holster in 1997, when I switched to 1911 pistols. (I reluctantly switched to .40 Glocks in 2002, when my skinny right hand no longer reliably depressed the grip safety sufficiently, even with a somewhat-extended grip safety, when using the then-mandated duty holster, that interfered with attaining a proper firing grip.)
I continued, however, to regularly bring a 4" GP100 to work with me as a "back-up" weapon, to be deployed as deemed necessary, from a case or pouch kept in the patrol car, until a fairly short time ago. (I may renew my "qual" with either a Model 19 or GP100 soon, and start the habit again.) Several felons had the opportunity to look up the barrel of the GP100, while the duty auto remained holstered. There are times the flat-shooting .357 Magnum is nice to have, and I still shoot a DA revolvers just a bit better than any other handgun. I have a hard time breaking 90 points on the "qual" with a Glock, with a high of about 92, but 95+ points is relatively common with a revolver, if I do not fumble a reload during the fast-paced, auto-oriented qual. (This was during the 2002-2004 period, when I used G22 duty pistols. I switched to a SIG in 2004, and could again break 95 most of the time. I just switched back to Glocks, but in 9mm this time, for the lesser recoil, as my formerly stronger hand and wrist can no longer tolerate much .40 recoil.)
I may ask if I can "game" the qual, with a Glock on my left hip, and the sixgun on the right hip. (I am a lefty with the Glock trigger system, but ambi with long-stroke DA.) This would not count for an official score, but we can shoot the qual course for training, if we buy the ammo. Not having to speed-load would nullify the autos' advantage. (Once mastered, the DA trigger can be worked FAST.) The special permission would be due to using two weapons, as normally, only one handgun, per officer, is allowed on the firing line at one time.
FWIW, I start hand gunning with a 1911, in 1982 or early 1983. I thought revolvers were quaint. I started the academy in 1983, and had to learn DA shooting, like it or not, and then had to carry only revolvers for my first year of sworn duty, on and off the clock. Staying alive meant becoming serious about learning DA. I learned to really like DA revolvers!
Quoting myself, from the other thread, with some details added:
Two Houston PD Central Patrol Division street patrol officers still carry L-frames in their duty rigs. There are probably many more, in other divisions. These two are still working the streets, on night shift, in one division, which is significant. (There are about 43 officers on night shift in that division.) HPD went all-.40 in 1997, but many officers still carry "grandfathered" duty handguns. There are about 5000 officers working in all of HPD.
One of the above-mentioned officers has a Glock, and she has qual'ed with it, but she shoots the revolver much better. She only carried the Glock at work when her issued Safariland holster malfunctioned. Supply Division had no more to issue to her. A search of every major Safariland internet dealer showed no 070 or 6360 holsters available for the L-frame, so she had her issued holster repaired by a local leather crafter.
I think one admin officer on night shift, in the same division, still carries her L-frame. She will be retiring soon. Another night shift Central Patrol Division officer, who worked the front desk, carried his K-frame until retiring in November 2014. So, until a year ago, almost 10% of one patrol division's night shift officers, both street and desk, were still carrying revolvers on duty, but that will be cut in half within months, for a reduction of 50% within about a year. The two remaining officers have not stated their retirement plans, but might remain for several more years. The older of the two has almost 32 years of seniority, the other was hired in the early 1990s.
One HPD officer, working for another patrol division, was still carrying his 6" .44 Mag S&W sixgun on duty, quite recently, and may still be. The 6" tube indicates he has "grandfathered" it since 1987, when all duty revolvers were mandated to have 3" to 4" barrels.
I prefer to neither confirm nor deny that I work for HPD, for various reasons. I last carried revolvers in my uniformed duty holster in 1997, when I switched to 1911 pistols. (I reluctantly switched to .40 Glocks in 2002, when my skinny right hand no longer reliably depressed the grip safety sufficiently, even with a somewhat-extended grip safety, when using the then-mandated duty holster, that interfered with attaining a proper firing grip.)
I continued, however, to regularly bring a 4" GP100 to work with me as a "back-up" weapon, to be deployed as deemed necessary, from a case or pouch kept in the patrol car, until a fairly short time ago. (I may renew my "qual" with either a Model 19 or GP100 soon, and start the habit again.) Several felons had the opportunity to look up the barrel of the GP100, while the duty auto remained holstered. There are times the flat-shooting .357 Magnum is nice to have, and I still shoot a DA revolvers just a bit better than any other handgun. I have a hard time breaking 90 points on the "qual" with a Glock, with a high of about 92, but 95+ points is relatively common with a revolver, if I do not fumble a reload during the fast-paced, auto-oriented qual. (This was during the 2002-2004 period, when I used G22 duty pistols. I switched to a SIG in 2004, and could again break 95 most of the time. I just switched back to Glocks, but in 9mm this time, for the lesser recoil, as my formerly stronger hand and wrist can no longer tolerate much .40 recoil.)
I may ask if I can "game" the qual, with a Glock on my left hip, and the sixgun on the right hip. (I am a lefty with the Glock trigger system, but ambi with long-stroke DA.) This would not count for an official score, but we can shoot the qual course for training, if we buy the ammo. Not having to speed-load would nullify the autos' advantage. (Once mastered, the DA trigger can be worked FAST.) The special permission would be due to using two weapons, as normally, only one handgun, per officer, is allowed on the firing line at one time.
FWIW, I start hand gunning with a 1911, in 1982 or early 1983. I thought revolvers were quaint. I started the academy in 1983, and had to learn DA shooting, like it or not, and then had to carry only revolvers for my first year of sworn duty, on and off the clock. Staying alive meant becoming serious about learning DA. I learned to really like DA revolvers!
