These are few near me: Hermosa Beach was and still is a big 1911 department, Hawthorne had a lot of 1911 users (looks like they are transitioning to Gen 5 Glocks), Manhattan Beach was about 50/50 during the revolver age and Long Beach PD (Home of the LB Operator).
going off of memory, but I recall
Tacoma WA PD issued 1911.
If you're going to be a bear….be a GRIZZLY!
Would like to know the reason behind the question...(?)
I wouldn’t call them “Tackleberrys”, but men like Bill Allard, Jim Cirillo’s partner in the NYPD Stakeout Squad in the 1960s ran a 1911 with good effect. Reports of Chicago PD detectives having 1911s.
Mas Ayoob ran a 1911 in some small NH PDs around that time.
You have the US MPs, Navy Shore Patrol, etc., utilizing 1911s.
Dilemma is many agencies didn’t “issue” sidearms, but allowed many brands. I rocked a Colt LW Commander in the 1980s off duty, for example. If you expand your cutoff to 1990, you get Tacoma, Denver...
I cannot readily come up with any department that “issued” the 1911.
Others have mentioned Texas Rangers, California agencies,etc. I am relatively confident one or more US “alphabet” agencies probably handed out a 1911 or two overseas(along with S&W revolvers).
"Are you ready? Okay. Let's roll."- Last words of Todd Beamer
I haven’t been able to verify how far back the Spokane Sheriff’s Department affair with the 1911 duty pistol goes. I know that deputies were carrying the 1911 back in the 90s, but that’s well after the transition to semiautos had begun sweeping the nation.
I did stumble across this, just FYI:
https://forums.1911forum.com/showthread.php?t=268453
During the 60s, the majority of cops in California carried S&W K frames. The CHP carried N frame 357s. Every now and then, you'd see a Colt double action revolver. It was rare to see a 1911.
It was the same during the 70s, but S&W autos started gaining popularity. S&W autos started displacing even more revolvers in the 80s and autos gained even more popularity with the introduction the Beretta. Sig stated making inroads with the introduction of their DA/SA autos and Glock ended the revolver era with the 17.
1911s were rarely seen in the holsters of beat cops and detectives. In the 90s, much was made of 1911s being adopted by elite units such as SWAT and HRT.
The 1911 is my favorite handgun, so I'd always check to see what cops were carrying in their holsters, hoping to see Old Slabsides, cocked & locked. More often than not, I was disappointed. Catching sight of a cop carrying a 1911 was a rare sight.
We wish to thank the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement, without whose assistance this program would not have been possible.