The Strides We Have Made in Law Enforcement Equipment

I was thinking about the strides that have been made in law enforcement technology since I first pinned on the badge.? For instance, my on-duty weapon was a Colt Officer’s Model .38 cal. with a six-inch barrel.? My choice of holster was the New Jersey State Police holster, which was on a swivel with two rows of loops for my bullets.? There were no speed loaders, speed strips, or drop pouches. As far as holster safety was concerned, it was still in the future. ?To release the firearm, you had to put your index finger into the trigger well to press on a metal clip.??

I had two impact weapons. The first was a long piece of wood with a rawhide tie.? The rawhide tie was looped around your thumb, and with practice, you spin the stick without hitting your shins.? My nightstick was carried on my belt in a ring holder.? You could never properly sit down when carrying this item. ?I also carried a little item called a slap.? A sap is a flat, beavertail-shaped slapper that is weighted with lead on the widest end that is extremely potent to get someone’s attention.? This item was carried in a special pocket just below your rear pants pocket.

My department also issued an item called the iron claw.? This was a device that looked like a large “C” that you could clamp down on a subject’s arm.? ?It used a ratchet mechanism to lock the claw on a person’s arm to control the subject. A quick twist closed it, and control was obtained via pain compliance.? I think I used it twice, and that was two times more than anyone else on the shift.?

My flashlight was a five “D” sized battery light.? It basically was a metal pipe that served as a flashlight. It seemed to be as large as a walking stick.? It would not fit in my back pocket, so when the flashlight was out of the car, it was either in my left hand, under my left arm, or held on the belt with yet another ring.? I lived by the officer safety code that nothing except your firearm was ever in your gun hand. This light was never truly bright, and it was before the concept of rechargeable batteries.? And these batteries never lasted long.? Simply, it was heavy, bulky, and large.

Also around the time I began, there was the introduction of a new communication device known as the portable radio.? Law enforcement agencies were just getting the latest walkie-talkies.? Ours were large brick-like blocks that had only two channels.? I was surprised that my pants never fell down under all the weight I had to carry.

Enough about personal equipment; let’s review the police vehicle.? The first item I noticed when I was first permitted to ride in the “unit” or police vehicle was a small transistor radio.? The police vehicles were purchased without radios, and it was before tape players, CDs, and satellite radios.? The transistor radio, which only played AM music, was placed in the left corner of the dash and held in place by being pressed against the windshield.

There were no spotlights attached outside of the vehicle.? Inside, there was a handheld spotlight that was plugged into the cigarette lighter.? This light worked great if you could open the windows, but on nights it was raining, all it did was reflect the light back into my eyes.? Again, police equipment is big and bulky.

The dinosaur of a police radio in the vehicle had to warm up before you could transmit.? So, if you turned the vehicle off, the radio took about a minute or so to warm up.? Keep in mind the old saying about how long a minute is, depending on which side of the bathroom door you are on.? Your emergency had to wait until the radio was ready to go.

The overhead emergency lights when I started were, well, just a light.? Nothing special, just a big light located in the middle of the roof that turned really slow.? A few years later, we went high-tech.? The lighting system was now a bar attached to the roof, and it had two smaller lights that flashed and still that large rotating light in the center.? Alley lights were still way in the future.

The siren was basic.? In fact, it had one whining sound.?? The siren was activated by pushing a button on the floor.? Using your left foot, you simply press the button, and the siren sounds.? Of course, this button was next to the high beam button.? In an emergency, some officers would activate their high beam instead of their sirens.

So far, we have covered the basic personal and vehicle “high tech” issued equipment.? The art of report writing was still in the dark ages.? There were two choices.? The first was to handwrite all your reports, and the second had the ability to use an old nonelectrical typewriter.? Both had the same drawback: the need for carbon paper.? A mistake means finding a white-out, correcting each page separately, and then writing it over.? If you were using a typewriter, you had to reline the paper so the lines were straight. Somehow, the reports never looked neat.? No wonder there is a history of not wanting to do paperwork.

Times have changed, and lucky for us, great strides have been made in the construction, type, and technology of issued equipment.? We are now lightweight, rechargeable, and high-speed.? Our flashlight turned night into day, and we then mounted our handguns, shotguns, and patrol rifles.? Not only are there multi-channel portable radios, we also have cellular telephones.? Our vehicles are space age with everything we need to track, locate, append, and transport criminals.? With computers, every report is perfect, error-free, and saved.

It is a great time to be entering the exciting profession of law enforcement.