When I see Police Officers today, it makes me think of ROBO COP. Remember the half bionic, equipment loaded, high tech crime fighting police officer of the future? They carry so much stuff these days, if they fell in the river, they’d sink like a rock. I just can’t believe any cop can outrun or even come close to catching a bad guy in tennis shoes.
When I was a cop, I carried a little snub-nose .38 special and a pair of handcuffs off duty and a Smith & Wesson .357 revolver on duty. Oh yeah, I had 6 extra bullets on a zip strip in my pocket. (I didn’t think much about getting shot either, except on traffic stops or domestics calls).
The officers of today carry semi-automatic, (With Laser) high capacity handguns with several extra clips (in leather pouches) of ammo… and may need it. Some carry 2 sets of handcuffs and some plastic flex cuffs, nightsticks or a baton. You may think that a nightstick or baton is just for hitting people over the head… wrong! It is a very sophisticated tool, which involves a lot of training to use properly, and hitting someone in the head is the last thing it should be used for.
Back to the heavy load…Cops gotta have rubber gloves, protective leather gloves, a hot and uncomfortable bullet proof vest, heavy duty belt, heavy level 3 or 4 locking pistol holster, rechargeable super bright flashlight with holster and of course a 55,000 volt tazer gun. Most cops carry a good knife of some kind for cutting clothing, seat belts and other things. Officers also carry a two-way radio, a cell phone, notepad, pen and some officers are allowed to carry a smaller back-up gun in their boot and now we are going to ad body cameras to them. We are getting pretty close to the future Robo Cop huh?
I am sure there are things I have missed and of course different jurisdictions require or allow different pieces of equipment.
Oh yeah… last but not least, the heaviest item of all… the badge. It is the heaviest it has ever been. Today’s police officers carry a ton of sophisticated equipment and technology on his or her body and in the squad car. Our cops are VERY highly trained in hundreds of subjects and the training and retraining never stops.
Most of the people they deal with on a daily (or nightly) basis are stressed out or injured, drunk, lost, in an accident, on drugs, fighting, lost a loved one, committing a crime or have been a victim of a crime.
Most law enforcement people are honest, sincere and hard-working, and yes, there will always be a few going off the deep end because of the constant high stress and some will make mistakes. It’s dangerous, demanding and hell on family life and marriage. I guess that is all I have to say about that… except we gotta respect, salute and back these people up!