IWB use in LE

[TGS]

or carried detached in a brief case/satchel of some kind, but still in the agency provided OWB holster.

[HCM]

3:00 OWB is the norm for plain-clothes, for reasons including but not limited to...

...works best for the "badge beside the gun" look.
...easiest to "accidentally" reveal.
...symbol of office.

See that a lot down here, I call it Walker Texas Ranger Carry.

[RJflyer]

I work in a shirt and tie mostly on duty, with polo and khakis during midnight callouts. 3 o'clock OWB is standard on duty in my unit...but this is basically a uniform despite the lack of police patches and gear. Off duty i prefer IWB at 3 o'clock. I am by no means an "old timer", but i still can't wrap my head around AIWB. I realize a lot of hi-speed dudes are moving in that direction. I even saw tier 1 guys carrying in that manner during my last .mil deployment overseas (only a few months ago).

I just don't feel comfortable holstering a striker gun with the muzzle pointed at my junk/femoral artery. Sure, practice makes perfect and finger off the trigger, etc. But I'm willing to admit I'm human and one day I might f*** up. Thats just my opinion and i don't expect anyone to take it for more than what its worth.

[jnc36rcpd]

In full disclosure, I have never attempted AIWB carry. That said, my concern is the likely need to either look at the holster when holstering or, alternatively, removing the holster from the waistband to safely holster. To some extent, I understand those might be trade-offs for undercover or off duty concealment, but I still prefer strongside IWB.

[TGS]

Nothing wrong with that. I carried AIWB everyday until we switched to the Glock. If we were allowed to install Gadgets, I'd be more comfortable with a SFA carried AIWB.

So, for the meantime I generally stick to 2:30-3:00 IWB. @GJM had an excellent story that I relate to, when he was trying to land his bush plane in bad weather and his Glock dislodged from the holster. He was faced with trying to reholster a Glock, sans Gadget, AIWB in that situation.

Moral of his story (that I took away, at least) is that a SFA pistol and AIWB are okay when everything else is okay. Without a Gadget, safely reholstering quickly goes to the wayside when something bad is happening/has happened, whether it's landing a bush plane in bad weather or maybe your injured post fight, or during an adrenaline dump, etc.

[lwt16]

Pretty sure all plain clothes cops here are carrying in a department issued ALS rig. They used to could buy personal guns and carry what they wanted and pancake/thumb break rigs were popular for them. One guy carried a Galco Miami Classic rig.

Some years back they mandated that only the department issued sidearm could be carried while on duty. Off duty you can carry whatever however you want. We also issue a G43 as a BUG or off duty carry gun if an officer so chooses. Some of the admin have started carrying the G43 as a primary since they are casual Friday just about every day of the week now. None of them carry any spare mags and none of them are shooters so if they do ride up on something they don't stand much chance of prevailing with their seven shot 9mm that they rarely fire. But I digress......

IWB carry is almost unheard of here.......except for the younger, hipster crowd. Some of them are AIWB with good, well known rigs and some of them even train. So that's refreshing to see.

I'm always IWB off duty and only OWB carry if I am coming to in-service training. I carry in light bearing OWB rigs and get a lot of "where'd you get that holster" action when they notice. On the ride to in-service, I am in a vest and then remove it once I am at training since I am driving a marked unit. IWB, I found out, doesn't really work with the vest so I don the OWB rig when doing that.

Regards.

[JDD]

If you're talking street clothes, it's almost all OWB here, on and off duty, using the issued Raven Phantom.

I'm in a minority that carries IWB in street clothes.

In my observation, once you hit that minority that carries IWB, qual scores, time dedicated to training, the carriage of extended mags for reloads, and the use of custom ordered gear all sharply rise.

ETA: To be fair, IWB was a little more popular when we were issued an absolute shit holster (Safariland 568) and virtually everyone was out buying their own stuff. Now there's not much of a need, as honestly the Raven conceals G19s and G26s as good or better than many IWB holsters for the bulk of agents.

Also to be fair, the ALS and Phantom combo is a very solid agency issue package. I would prefer to have a retention device on my concealment holster, but for what we carry and the way we carry, we could do so much worse than a Raven pancake. (*not valid if you are going to snug your extra smedium polo down over your holster...)

I have considered picking up a Perun for personal use after seeing the ones that we bought for the bodguards, it seems like a pretty well put together holster, and it has less area down near the muzzle, which makes it a bit more concealable.

[Le Français]

Also to be fair, the ALS and Phantom combo is a very solid agency issue package. I would prefer to have a retention device on my concealment holster, but for what we carry and the way we carry, we could do so much worse than a Raven pancake. (*not valid if you are going to snug your extra smedium polo down over your holster...)

I have considered picking up a Perun for personal use after seeing the ones that we bought for the bodguards, it seems like a pretty well put together holster, and it has less area down near the muzzle, which makes it a bit more concealable.

About a year ago, your trainees at FLETC were wearing Peruns, molded for small WMLs of some kind, IIRC.

[TGS]

About a year ago, your trainees at FLETC were wearing Peruns, molded for small WMLs of some kind, IIRC.

Probably XC1s if they were personally bought or issued by us.

Were they personally bought? Usually gear issue happens during the follow-on. Or was FLETC replacing the old worn out leather OWB thumb breaks with Peruns?

[Le Français]

Probably XC1s if they were personally bought or issued by us.

Were they personally bought? Usually gear issue happens during the follow-on. Or was FLETC replacing the old worn out leather OWB thumb breaks with Peruns?

I don’t know if they were personally bought (I didn’t ask), but it was my strong impression that they were issued, as I saw several identical holsters. The trainees were still in CITP at that point, obviously.