I do know the Colorado Springs PD carried 1911s in the time period in question and were still doing so when I entered LE work in the early 90s.
I knew a townie cop who went to work for them specifically for that reason.
I do know the Colorado Springs PD carried 1911s in the time period in question and were still doing so when I entered LE work in the early 90s.
I knew a townie cop who went to work for them specifically for that reason.
We may lose and we may win, but we will never be here again.......
I can’t do 1980 as a cutoff since I was two years old. I decided I wanted to go into law enforcement when I was twelve, which was around 1990/1991. I became a gun-nut around that time and four guns intrigued me most. Those were the 1911, the Beretta 92F/FS/M9, the Glock 19, and the HK P7. The first time I fired a 1911 was the first time I was actually “scared” firing a pistol. I didn’t expect the recoil and hammer bite from that old GI gun. I was 15 and my parents didn’t like handguns so my exposure to them was sporadic. Going to the indoor range with my friend’s dad I found the 92F more fun and the A1 style AR-15 to be super cool. That said, there was something about that 1911.
Growing up in the Los Angeles area I saw the transition from revolvers to Berettas on LAPD and LASD. The only 1911 I remember seeing, and I still have an image of it burned into my brain, was during an annual father/son ski trip we did at a family friend’s house just outside the Mammoth ski resort. I remember seeing a Mammoth Lakes officer in the parking lot and noting his Colt 1911 with wood grips with the gold/brass medallion. The gun was blued but the hammer was “silver” colored.
Now I know that had I ventured further into the LA area there were multiple agencies issuing or allowing 1911s in the 80s and 90s, but back then that Mammoth officer was the first I’d seen in person.
It’s been 20 years since I started in LE here and there have been a lot of changes. One of the bigger equipment changes is the resurgence of the 1911. LAPD authorized anyone who could qualify expert around 2010 or so after SWAT had been using them for five-ish decades and SIS had started running them. We authorized them in 2016 thanks to a supportive Sheriff, and Long Beach PD had been issuing the 1911 for academy recruits for a long time, though they had to return them after a year or so and buy their own pistol. Now Orange County authorizes them and I was able to go to their course earlier this year. It’s rad. I think around 2019 the 1911 was getting ready to fade but Staccato has given new life to the platform. Embracing optics was huge and now they’re more popular than ever.
There are some people, both old and young, that try to adopt the 1911 or 2011 type pistol just because they think it’s cool and they suck. That’s one reason we copied LAPD and required a prerequisite qualification with a high accuracy standard. There are lots of young people I’ve seen who have truly embraced the history, uniqueness, frustration, and soul of the 1911. At least on the West coast the training is awesome. LAPD runs a 30hr class, we run a 16hr class, and OCSD runs an excellent 8hr class. Lots of agencies are bringing in great instructors. San Mateo is hosting great guys like Pannone and Hades Consulting. Young cops are training and from a shooting standpoint the motivated are way ahead. If I were the jealous type I’d try to find bad things to say, but they are going to surpass this generation fast. I think it’s neat to see and I’m glad I could be a part of moving things forward.
All of the Federales, (Federal police) I saw in MX had M4's or some other military rifle I couldn't ID. Probably HK .
Never saw a pistol there in the 4 years I traveled in Sonora and Chihuahua.
Reasons being the drug cartels had rifles and so do the feds.
Local police don't carry open. They're mostly plain clothes so you can't know who they are or what they carry.
It isn't the US with uniformed police. Too many dead cops.
Last edited by Borderland; 02-12-2023 at 11:14 PM.
In the P-F basket of deplorables.
Deleted
Not where I grew up or worked. Highway Patrol carried revolvers well past your cutoff (not sure if they were .38 or .357, but I recall seeing T-grips on them). I didn't see any semiautos at all until after 1980, and those were S&W 9mms (not issued). AFAIK there were no .45s of any kind until after 1990 (S&W issued to deputies and individual officers with 1911s or P220s). Departments switched from revolvers in the late 80s, early 90s.
"Gunfighting is a thinking man's game. So we might want to bring thinking back into it."-MDFA
Beware of my temper, and the dog that I've found...