My department issues the Surefire X300A Ultra which is a 1000 lumen WML for pistols, Surefire Scout Lights for rifles, and the Surefire Forend lights for shotguns and MP5's. We allow the Streamlight lights as well if you want a TLR7 or TLR1.
I've been around for a few minutes so I remember when the M3 came out and guys were carrying them in a pouch on their belt and sticking them on for building searches. I started carrying a X200 back in 2007, then an X300. For the past few years since I've primarily been in an admin role so I either don't carry a light on my gun or if I do it's a TLR7 on a Glock 19 (I'm tired of suitcase sized holsters). If I were a beat cop I'd probably be carrying the issued X300 Ultra. I haven't been to a low-light class other than the ones we teach in-house since 2014, so I might be out of touch.
A couple weeks ago a small plane crashed onto a busy street at 11:00 am in my city (we have a small airport) with the plane striking a car waiting at a stop light (pilot was killed) and pretty much tied up everyone on patrol. I threw on a uniform and went out to shag calls for service and ended up teaming up with one of our baby cops (he was born in 2001). I had given him ammo a few weeks earlier to attend a "Low Light" class a neighboring PD was hosting at their indoor range. He paid to attend the class himself and did it on his own time so I don't know much about it.
I asked him about the class and he did his best to try to relay some things he learned. What shocked me was he said, "Our lights aren't bright enough." He said he wants to switch the X300T and thinks the department should do the same (I'll forgive him for not understanding gov procurement).
I was somewhat stunned and probably gave him a confused blank face before asking him (inquisitively and not sarcastically) how it wasn't bright enough. He had a hard time trying to explain other than something about using the light to blind an adversary. I brought up optic washout and dealing with white walls in building searches (something that had presented an issue with very bright lights in the past) and he didn't really have an answer.
I'm sure the dynamic of our conversation was weird for him because he's a young probationary super newb being put on the spot by the Training Manager. I don't want to be dismissive of him and like I said earlier, I haven't been through an outside entity low-light class in ten years. He paid his own money and used his own time to attend a class, which is something I encourage. I'm just honestly a bit befuddled by what he learned.
For those of you who have more recently attended low-light training (white light...not NV):
What am I missing?
Is the X300U now considered not bright enough?
What is the current thought process on WML usage and has training changed in the past 10 years?