Managerial/ detective level police carry?

[AMC]

Back when I was in investigations, my load was a 226 .40, 2 spare mags, cuffs, knife in pocket. Leaving the station meant adding OC in the jacket pocket, and of course the radio. Soft armor in an outer carrier was in the trunk, along a bunch of other SHTF gear. No impact weapon.....though policy dictates we carry an approved impact weapon on duty, even in Plainclothes. Only reasonable option for Plainclothes was a yawara....but the hadn't given the class in years (and you couldn't carry it without the class). Hadn't approved the RCB yet, and the ASP was (and still is) restricted to SWAT and K9.......because , ya know, ASP MANDATES that anyone carrying their baton be Re-certified by an ASP instructor every six months in a full day course and, well.....we just can't do that. Even after I put the Lt. and Sgt. at the Academy on speaker phone with the Vice President of LE Training Services for ASP, who told them that was ridiculous and false, and how could they mandate anything to their customers.....soon as we hung up....Lt. looked at me and said, "I still just don't see how we could put everyone through that training every six months..."

[TGS]

On the other end of the spectrum, I've had folks in my agency show up at "investigative activities" with a J-frame and no spare ammunition, a PM9 or G43 and same, or no firearm at all. I don't think I've ever seen anyone with a pair of cuffs except at our annual mandatory "defensive tactics" refresher. I rarely see spare magazines except on the range. I had one agent, in the not too distant past, show up for qualification with no covering garment (so she had been walking around in the public for some time openly armed) with an UNLOADED pistol.

There's definitely some special ones out there.

What gets me are the ones who show up to qual, put on their paddle holster and mag pouch for the qual, and then take it all off at the end of qual and lock it back up before driving back to the office.

I don't get it. They don't carry their weapon because it's a burden, inconvenient, whatever. But it'd be more convenient if they just left it on their belt when they left....they are making even more work for themselves by disarming, and giving themselves more to carry out.....

[serialsolver]

This might be a silly question but we eat lunch at place that gets a good number of law enforcement. The uniformed officers have all their gear but there is a large number of folks that come in a shirt and slacks. They have a badge on the belt and a Glock in a holster. That's it. Given our obsessiveness on reloads, etc. - I wonder why? No visible handcuffs or extra mags. Wouldn't that be useful if there was something bad happening?

One pair had Serpas. Oh, well.

Just asking if there is a usual policy?

Most agencies have policies for what to have while in uniform but no policies for out of uniform.

your comment "given OUR obsessiveness" is the answer. Most cops are not like the folks here at pf. Actually very few cops are like the folks at pf. That's why you see them with just a badge and gun.



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[TC215]

There are 8 of us in our narcotics unit...All of us carry a duty gun, cuffs, 1 or 2 extra mags, and a flashlight at all times. Most of us carry a BUG on our ankle.

We had a guy get assigned to narcotics last year and he thought that meant he didn't have to carry a gun anymore. My sergeant wrote him up once for not carrying a gun, and then got a 1 day suspension for not carrying a gun. He's back on patrol now.

[blues]

I'm getting a stiff neck from shaking my head...

[TheNewbie]

There are 8 of us in our narcotics unit...All of us carry a duty gun, cuffs, 1 or 2 extra mags, and a flashlight at all times. Most of us carry a BUG on our ankle.

We had a guy get assigned to narcotics last year and he thought that meant he didn't have to carry a gun anymore. My sergeant wrote him up once for not carrying a gun, and then got a 1 day suspension for not carrying a gun. He's back on patrol now.

??? No gun ???

Did he give a reason ?

[TC215]

??? No gun ???

Did he give a reason ?

"Couldn't conceal it", although the rest of us managed just fine, so he kept it in his truck in case he needed it.

[TheNewbie]

I saw a detective carry a P226 DAK in a leather custom holster. It must have been poorly made or made for something else. The whole trigger area was sticking out above the holster and it had no retention strap on it at all.

[Erick Gelhaus]

As a detective, a LONG time ago, and when working plain clothes in a more recent assignment the rule was always:
- pistol you could fight with, not something tiny & light;
- at least one spare magazine (2 for a 1911, 1 for anything from Glock, S&W, etc);
- badge;
- one pr handcuffs.

The only exception was if you were actually going U/C for a buy and then only when going to / from the buy and during it. The cuffs and spare magazine seem to be much less common now. We did get rid of the G27s with Slurpa holsters and got investigations & Admin into G19s with Safariland holsters.

A lot of it is cultural, are you or aren't you a meat eater. If you are a vegetarian, or worse a vegan, then there was probably a desire to get away from working criminals to begin with. Now there is no need to carry the necessary tools, only the trappings - a badge and a pistol - instead.

[BigDaddy]

If we're playing show and tell, I carry:

I also cringe when I see the polo/khaki squad with FOBUS non-retention holsters open carrying. Plus polos. Side note, I really dislike the "soft" polo look. A detective is in a position of authority and trust. That is a position for a traditional display of such, at least business casual and preferably a decent suit.

This. I DESPISE this latest trend in some suburb PD's. Khakis and polo belong on salesmen, not detective. I remember many years ago locking some guy up and he wouldn't talk. I was of course a young patrolman. We call the dics, they come up and take him away to their office. He's put in a chair and after 30 minutes or so he gives it up. No cajoling, no slapping around, he justs fesses up. I was shocked, couldn't believe it. I asked the dic how he did it. He said he didn't do anything. He just sat the guy down and started the paper work. The guy figured he was in trouble and that the dics knew he did because they were all in suits and ties and just had to know more than a uniform guy,lol.I never forgot that and saw it time and time again, city wide.