NEW YORK – As New York City has seen many high-profile shootings, including five NYPD officers shot since the start of the new year, the mayor is coming up with a new plan to fight gun violence in NYC.

Mayor Eric Adams said that despite the NYPD taking around 6,000 guns off of the streets last year, new guns are arriving every day.

One solution that he laid out in an address on Monday afternoon was for city police to work with state law enforcement to set up spot checks at all entry points to the city like the Port Authority and other bus and train stations.

When questioned about the gun checks, Adams said he envisioned random checks where bags would be screened.

“We will also move forward on using the latest in technology to identify problems,” Adams said. “From facial recognition technology to new tools that can spot those carrying weapons, we will use every available method to keep our people safe.”

Adams said the city will expand the gun violence suppression division in the detective bureau. It will be tasked to seize illegal guns and build cases against gun sellers and weapons traffickers.

He said that the NYPD will put more officers on patrol in “key neighborhoods” through the city. He said 80% of gun violence takes place in 30 precincts in the city. The mayor said he wants to bring back a new version of NYPD’s plainclothes anti-crime unit, which was disbanded two years ago.

Adams said he would start or expand youth mentoring and employment programs and ask pastors and other faith leaders to deliver public safety messages to their congregations. He also wants more resources for mental health care and said he will focus on appointing city judges who have a “demonstrated commitment” to keeping criminals who use guns off the city streets.

“The sea of violence comes from many rivers,” Adams said. “We must dam every river that feeds this greater crisis.”

In a statement, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams (no relation to the mayor) largely supported the mayor’s plan.

“We strongly welcome the mayor’s focus on strengthening community-based violence prevention programs, mental health care, and investments in youth employment,” the speaker said, “and we’re glad these are so central to the plan and conversation, providing a great starting point.”

However, Adrienne Adams cautioned the mayor about bringing back the controversial plainclothes anti-crime unit.

“Concerns have been raised in communities about the plainclothes unit’s ability to reduce violence, given its past history of initiating undue violence,” the speaker said. “This proposal — along with others to change city and state criminal justice policies — requires further public dialogue and transparency.”

On Sunday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that a multi-state task force would work to slow the flow of illegal guns into the city.

“Too many lives have been lost because of illegal firearms that should never have been on our streets,” Hochul said.

More than 50 agencies from nine Northeastern states are taking part in the task force.

NYPD Officer Jason Rivera, 22, was killed responding to a mother’s call for help with her son in Harlem on Friday night.  His partner Officer Wilbert Mora, 27, remained in critical condition on Monday.

Adams, a former NYPD captain, joined the governor in calling on the federal government to do more to round up stolen guns like the one used in Friday’s shooting.

Other high profiles crimes in the city since the start of the year include a 19-year-old teen who was killed while working at an East Harlem Burger King and an 11-month old baby shot in the head while she was in her mother’s arms.

With FOX 5 NY Staff and The Associated Press.

 

It was the most controversial unit ever assembled by the New York City Police Department. Its members were the Green Berets and Navy SEALs of the NYCPD.  Forty men were thrust into the most dangerous assignments devised for a police unit.

The Stakeout Squad was a unit within the NYC Emergency Squad. The Emergency Squad was a dangerous assignment in itself. When a precinct or a cop was in trouble, it was the Emergency Squad that was called for. They handled everything from airplane crashes to SWAT assignments. I was a member of the Emergency and Stakeout Squads, and it was the most exciting time in my life.

I loved working in both units and was proud to serve alongside such heroic police officers. I never considered myself exceptionally brave or courageous. In fact, I was somewhat ashamed of the feelings of fear that came over me in my first gunfight. Looking back at what I boldly did while in the stakeout unit, I questioned myself as to where the courage came from. Was it the courage of my comrades rubbing off on me, or was it the Greek Spartan blood of my grandparents flowing through my veins? My wife held a much lower opinion as to the reason for my heroic exploits. She told a concerned neighbor that I was such a coward that I would never even let the police department take my blood or stick a needle in me, much less let someone cut me or shoot my hide full of  holes. I kind of prefer the other reasons for my acts of courage.

In many ways, being on the Stakeout Squad was a thankless job. It was started by a bold police commissioner, Howard Leary, but later came under an ultraliberal police administration. The liberal hierarchy condemned us as assassins, while the frontline police officers looked up to us as heroes.

It was the police bosses who had no knowledge of gunfighting who thrust us into danger. Had they listened to the expert gunfighters who made up the unit, we would not have had to resort to as many firefights as we did. But since we were only line officers, they let unknowledgable upper brass set up the stakeouts. They would put us in such close proximity to the robbers that we knew we would never recover in time if they decided to shoot first. We would not have the luxury of time to see if our armed robber would capitulate.

ONE INCH AWAY FROM DEATH

During training sessions, I instructed my fellow stakeout members to shoot if they did not see the robber throw down his weapon quickly when the officer made his confrontation and verbal warning. One of my men took offense to this instruction. He asked, “Are you telling me to murder these guys while I have a shotgun and a vest on?” I repeated, “If they don’t drop their weapon the moment you yell at them to do so and they see your POLICE letters on your vest, I want you to blow them out of their socks.” He shook his head in disagreement and did not speak to me for the rest of the training session.

Three days later this same officer challenged a robber in a liquor store on Second Avenue in Manhattan. He later told me, “Jim, you were right. I almost bought the farm.” He said that at the moment he came out of hiding from the back of the liquor store and made his challenge, all he saw was a gun flash in the robber’s hand as he quickly turned and faced the officer. One bullet struck the officer square in the vest over his chest. The instantaneous second shot passed just an inch past the officer’s right ear and imbedded itself in the door frame behind him.

After he related the story, he shook my hand and apologized for doubting me. He then took a transfer form, filled it out, and left the Stakeout Squad. I forgot to mention that he quickly recovered after the second shot and started pumping the Ithaca Model 37 shotgun, blowing the gunman through the glass entrance door right out onto Second Avenue.

MARTY AND BENNY

I also had a comedy team in the Stakeout Unit, who I will call Benny and Marty. Ben resembled a muscular Lou Costello and Marty was the spitting image of Andrew Dice Clay and just as raw and funny. To this day I still wonder if they are related. During training sessions I tried to emphasize to them that at least one man had to be alert and on point at all times once they cross the threshold of a stakeout, but they never took me seriously.

The story that I am about to relate to you will seem unbelievable, but it is totally true. Marty and Ben were doing a 4 P.M. to 12 A.M. The stakeout was a drugstore in Brooklyn. Since it was near dinnertime they stopped to get a pizza. They walked into the drugstore with their takeout pizza, but instead of one man getting into the point position, Marty and Benny decided to sit at the back of the prescription counter and eat their hot pizza together, like the buddies they were. (The “point” was the term we used for the man on watch. In this case the point position was in the stockroom sitting on top of a phone booth. The phone booth was imbedded in the stockroom wall with its entrance flush to the store proper. It was a very good tactical setup. We always tried to get a high observation view.)

I can imagine the look on their faces, with a mouthful of pizza, when they spotted the upraised hands of the drugstore clerk heading their way. Right behind the clerk they saw the raised hands of the pharmacist moving toward them. They dove out of their chairs and scurried into the stockroom. As they waited, the robber herded the clerk and the pharmacist into the stockroom entrance. As soon as they were clear of the officers, Marty jumped out and pointed his Colt Detective Special into the middle of the gunman’s face. He yelled, “Drop the gun!” The gunman responded with a shot fired right in the middle of Marty’s gut.

Marty later told me that at that moment he thought to himself, “Cirillo’s right. You will not feel the shot with adrenaline pumping into your system.” Marty pumped six shots right into the gunman’s face, and Benny joined with five shots from his Smith & Wesson five-shot Chief. Marty told me he saw the flash of the gunfire reflected in the gunman’s eyes. He wondered, “When is this SOB going to fall?”

When Marty heard the dull clicks on his expended shells, he finally saw the gunman’s eyes flicker and then shut as he crumpled to the floor. He yelled to Benny, “Benny, I’m hit. Call an ambulance quick.” Benny asked Marty, “Where are you hit?” Marty said, “In the gut. He could not have missed.”

The pharmacist told me later that Benny helped Marty take off his shirt to look for the bullet wound. Marty had hair on his chest and belly as thick as an ape. He told me that when Benny was parting the hair, it looked like a chimp grooming another chimp. Benny now said to the ashen Marty, “I don’t see any blood or a bullet hole.” With a quivering voice, Marty said, “Geez, maybe it’s in the belly button.”

Benny asked the pharmacist for a swab. The pharmacist handed him a swab. Benny poked the swab into Marty’s belly button. He took it out and saw there was no blood. Benny said, “Marty, there’s no blood. Are you sure he hit you?” Benny then picked up and examined the gun that the robber shot Marty with. He laughed and blurted out, “S***, it’s a ***damned starter’s pistol!”

Marty, still white with shock, sat down to recover. Benny got on the phone to report the shooting. He stood over the downed and evidently dead robber and called in his description. “I got a male black, 6’2” or 6’3”, weight 270 or 300 pounds, age uh, uh, 32 years.” With that the robber suddenly opened his eyes and said, “S*** man, I’m only 26. Hey officer, can I have a tissue? I got blood in my nose.”

Benny’s hair stood up on the back of his head, as he swore nobody could live with two revolver loads pumped into his head and face. Marty jumped out of the chair and felt his trigger finger twitching against an imaginary trigger. Then they both grabbed the gunman’s hands and handcuffed him. He again asked for a tissue. Benny gave him a tissue. The robber blew his nose with a disgusting gurgling sound. As he blew his nose, a spent bullet fell out plop! to the floor.

The ambulance originally called for Marty now arrived.  Benny was wondering, “How are we going to get this 300-pound gunman through the tight passage of the prescription counter?” He said, “Marty, we better call Emergency Service to get a body bag with handles to lift this guy.” The gunman then sat up and told Benny, “Give me a lift, man. I’ll get up.” Benny and Marty pulled the felon to his feet. They supported him, fearing he might collapse. He pulled away from their grasp and started to walk to the ambulance waiting outside without the slightest wobble or any sign that he was injured.

Benny grabbed the gunman in the normal arrest mode and handcuffed him properly with his hands behind his back. Benny looked at Marty in amazement. They could not believe that this guy was so mobile with 11 shots in his head and neck.

At the hospital, Benny found out that not one bullet had penetrated the robber’s skull. Each one had pierced the scalp, skidded around the skull and jaw bones, and exited. He later told me that he now knows I was right when I argued with the police hierarchy about how inadequate the 158-grain lead .38 Special load was.

THE TIMEX CAPER

My comedy team wasn’t finished yet. These two characters still never took stakeouts seriously. No matter what instructions or advice I gave them in my training sessions, they still did things their way. They were so funny that I still, to this day, miss and love these two characters.

Marty and Benny were staked out in a chicken fry shop.  Their scheduled assigned pickup was at 10 P.M., even though the shop stayed open till 11. At 9:55 they picked up their protective vests, broke down their 12-gauge Ithaca shotguns, and packed up their service guns and gear. They now were armed only with the same off-duty 2-inch Colt and Smith & Wesson handguns that they used in the drugstore shootout. As they were locking up the suitcase carrying their protective vests, they heard a voice coming from in front of the wall they were concealed behind state, “OK,  mother****er, I know dem cops is gone 15 minutes ago. Gimme all your cash or I’ll blow your ****ing brains out!”

Marty and Ben looked at each other in amazement. The thought running in their heads was, “This can’t be real. It must be some stupid ***hole making a joke.” As Benny peeked around the wall, he could not believe his eyes. Here was a robber with a cocked .45 in his hand. He nodded to Marty, and they both popped out with their off-duty revolvers. The robber spotted them and ran for the door while raising the .45 in their direction, trying to cover his escape. Before he could drop the safety or fire a shot, Marty and Benny opened fire. Both aimed low on the gunman’s butt to keep their shots heading downward. They were afraid of shots going parallel out into the dark street. The gunman  toppled into a heap just before the store entrance. He lay there moaning and yelling, “Oh s***. You ain’t supposed to be here. Oh s***. ***damn.” He was actually resentful that the cops were not playing by the rules and that it was unfair for them to be there. When Benny searched and handcuffed the gunman, he noticed that the Timex watch on the gunman’s wrist was 15 minutes fast. Benny laughed, looked at Marty, and said, “Hey Marty, maybe we should call John Cameron Swayze and tell him Timex watches catch crooks!”

After this stakeout I always referred to my comedy team as the “Two Proctologists.” (This stakeout also gave us new information. We found that whenever we shot gunmen in the pelvis or butt, they were knocked off their feet. They could still be dangerous, but at least their aim would be disturbed.)

THE BORN LOSER

This next occurrence I call the case of the Born Loser. It involved a sharp team that did as I asked. I will call them Kelly and Mac.

They had just arrived outside their assigned stakeout and were unloading their equipment from an unmarked car. Mac grabbed the case with their protective vests, listening device, and shotgun ammo. In his left hand he had a gym bag with his leather gear and service revolver. He started to walk to the assigned stakeout, an A&P supermarket, while Kelly was getting the shotguns and another equipment case out of the car trunk.

As Mac was walking toward the A&P, he heard a voice  behind him that sounded as raspy as Louie Armstrong say, “Drop the bag, mother******, or I’ll cut your ***.” Mac turned around to see a large, muscular black man pointing an 11-inch knife at him. Mac jumped back as he swung the heavy suitcase toward the knife, attempting to knock it out of his hand. The case was too heavy to swing fast, and the felon was able to jump back before  the suitcase struck him. Mac dropped his gear and quickly drew his Colt Detective Special. He yelled to his opponent to drop the knife. To his surprise, the robber yelled back, “Come and get it, mother******.”

By now Kelly heard all the yelling and looked toward Mac and the big black man in a Mexican standoff. Kelly and the plainclothes highway cop who drove them there crept up behind the man, signaling Mac to be cool. They grabbed the robber by his pants cuffs and pulled him off his feet. Mac joined in, and the three of them did a sort of Irish jig on top of the felon until he dropped the knife.

Later that evening I called stakeout headquarters, and Kelly answered the phone. I asked, “Kelly, aren’t you supposed to be on the A&P stakeout?” He then told me of Mac getting mugged as they were on their way into the store. Kelly then said, “Guess what, Jim? This is funny. This is the first day out of Sing Sing for this ***hole. He just finished a 15-year term.” I asked, “What did he get the 15 years for?” I heard Kelly chuckle over the phone. He then replied, “He tried to mug a cop!”

CIRILLO’S PUCKER FACTOR

I also had a close call in the very same drugstore that my comedy team was involved with, the one where Marty thought he got shot. I was seated on top of the telephone booth imbedded in the stockroom wall, the same watch point where my pizza eaters should have been when they were surprised by the upheld hands of the sales clerk and pharmacist. From my vantage point I could see who entered the store and approached the cash register. The sales counter was across the aisle, facing me.

A shady-looking individual who fit our hold-up man’s profile entered the store. He went right to the pharmacist, who was behind the cash register. I could only see the back of this suspicious individual. He took something out of his pocket quickly. He had his back toward me, so I could not see what was in his hand, which was pointed toward the pharmacist. At this moment, the individual muttered some gruff, unintelligible words. The pharmacist quickly raised both hands over his head and said, “Don’t get excited, don’t get excited!” I aimed my revolver between the  shoulder blades of the individual and took up 3 pounds of pressure on my trigger. I wanted to be sure there was a gun in his hand before I challenged him.

I was ready to take up the remaining 5 pounds of pressure on the trigger in the event he did not drop the weapon after my challenge. I whispered to my partner, “Bill, it looks like a hit.” At that moment I saw the pharmacist bring down his hands, reach for what was in the individual’s hand, and say, “I’ll exchange it, don’t get excited.”

I felt my heart beating faster than usual and the adrenaline surge through my body. I don’t know if it was caused by what seemed like a combat situation or by the thoughtless action of the pharmacist that placed a customer only 5 pounds of pressure away from death.

I was totally pissed off. I thought to myself, “I am going to teach this pharmacist a lesson.” I told my partner to calm down, as I could see he was now experiencing an adrenaline rush. I explained to Bill what happened and told him to get the pharmacist and tell him I wanted to see him.

Sol, the pharmacist, came behind the stockroom and  approached the phone booth I was sitting on top of. He looked up  and said, “What’s up, Jim?” I explained how close I had come to blowing away his customer. His mouth opened wide as he stated, “Oh my God.” I then told him that if we had shot the innocent customer we would have covered it. He asked how. I told him, “We would have shot you and said he did it robbing you, and that would have covered us.” Sol turned ashen white, walked back out to the counter, and for the next five days we were there he never raised his hands above his elbows. Bill and I laughed every time one of Sol’s customers noted his restrictive movements and asked if he had bad arthritis in his shoulders.

BIG MOUTH

As members of the Emergency Squad stakeout unit, we were exposed to many bizarre occurrences. In order to offset the gory, catastrophic, and morbid scenes we witnessed, we learned to develop an abhorrent sense of humor to help shield our psyches. This was common among the members of the Emergency Squad, but it was not always appreciated by nonmembers.

One night on a graveyard shift I was working as an Emergency Squad officer between stakeouts. We got a call about a man under a train at a Brooklyn train station. When we arrived, the stationmaster directed me to the stopped train and showed me the headless corpse that had been dragged by the contact shoe and pushed between the train platform and the wheels of the train. I observed in the 3-inch space between the platform and the stopped train that the body was totally intact except for the head, which evidently was severed by the train wheels. The clothing on the body gave evidence that this poor soul was one of the homeless New York City derelicts attempting to cross the tracks to sneak into the transit system for a free ride.

By now a crowd containing civilians as well as local precinct cops and top brass had gathered. The stationmaster suggested that we bring the train into the train barn over the repair pits so that we could get under it and search the undercarriage for the severed head. I agreed. As the train rolled out of the station, passing over but no longer dragging the body, one of the local precinct officers shouted and pointed up the tracks about 100 yards to the severed head.

It was such an unusual sight. The head was resting upright, looking right at us, as though it had broken through the floorboards between the rails. Much to my and my partner’s surprise, the precinct officer, in full dress uniform, jumped down from the  platform and stated, “I’ll get it.” Without thinking, my big mouth came out with the humor normally reserved for and between Emergency Squad personnel. I looked to the crowd on the platform and said, “There’s a young rookie cop who’s going to get ahead on the job.”

My partner turned his face away from the crowd to hide and suppress his laughter. When I saw the look on the faces of the crowd and the top police brass, I knew that my comment had gone over like a fart in church.

 

A criminal was injured and taken into custody by the Stakeout Squad. When the case came to trial, the officer concerned (widely assumed to have been Cirillo himself) took the stand and testified that he’d been on stakeout in that store on that date at that time. He observed the accused entering the store, drawing a gun and demanding money from the cashier. He had identified himself as a police officer and ordered the accused to drop his weapon. The accused had not done so, whereupon he had fired at him. The accused fell to the ground, where the policeman disarmed and handcuffed him, then called for an ambulance.

After the prosecution had finished with the police officer, the defense attorney rose and said to his client, “Did it happen like the officer said?”

“Hell, no!” retorted the defendant indignantly.  “There I was, mindin’ my own bidness, when I heard this awful noise, and I hurt somethin’ turrible, and I wuz lyin’ on the floor, an’ that damned cop was standin’ over me stickin’ his gun in my face an’ saying, ‘April Fool, mother******!’ “

When we first reported on the theft of Memphis Police Chief C.J. Davis’s backup service pistol from a car this past weekend, we noted that Davis had reportedly stored her firearm in a lockbox, but the lockbox itself was stolen out of the car along with a backpack. That led me to recommend a car safe with the option to secure it within the vehicle itself, which I still believe is good advice.

As it turns out, though, it’s also the official guideline of the Memphis PD, at least for officers on duty.

If the lockbox was not attached to the car, Davis could have been in violation of the department’s policy, according to The Commercial Appeal’s review of the MPD policy manual. That policy says the lockbox should be attached to the car.

There’s also a lack of clarity about who would investigate Davis if she was found to have violated department policy. She outranks everyone else in the police department and only reports to Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland.

In an interview Tuesday, Strickland said there would be no further scrutiny of the incident from his office.

“I’m not referring it to anyone. Chief Davis reports directly to me. She and I have spoken about this incident and we are moving forward. She has my full faith. And we are laser-focused on reducing crime and rebuilding the police department including improved pay for [police] officers,” Strickland said.

That’s awfully nice of the mayor, considering the chief does appear to have violated the department’s policy, which states:

Officer’s Responsibility for Safety of Firearms, Ammunition, and Handcuffs:

1. Officers are responsible for keeping both on duty and off duty firearms, ammunition, and all issued equipment under safe and protected conditions, especially preventing their use, theft, tampering, or damage by others. This responsibility extends when the firearm is carried on the person, or stored in any place. This responsibility extends to officers when in both on duty and off duty status. Officers should take all necessary steps to prevent the loss or theft of firearms.

2. Guidelines for safe and proper storage of firearms:

• Vehicles – Placing or locking a weapon in a glove compartment or trunk should not be considered safe in itself. However, a secured device such as a gun safe, which is fixed and attached to the vehicle, would be a safe measure.

Note, though, that these are “guidelines” for storing firearms, not requirements, so it’s unclear what discipline a rank-and-file officer would face if they did the same thing. Something tells me, though, that it wouldn’t result in a pat on the back and wave of the hand from the city’s mayor or the department’s Internal Affairs division.

Since this is the chief we’re talking about, however, the city’s going to quickly move on and the media will likely follow suit.. at least until or if the chief’s gun is recovered. If her sidearm is found at a crime scene or traced to a shooting the mayor may have a big enough public relations problem on his hands that he’ll have to revisit the issue, but short of that this story is going to quickly disappear from public view.

Leaving your gun unsecured in your vehicle isn’t a crime in Tennessee, and I don’t think it should be. Still, I do encourage folks to secure their gun if they have to leave it behind in their car, and a lockbox that can be picked up and carted off isn’t secured at all. Don’t make the same mistake the chief did. It’s easy enough to find an in-car safe that can be locked in place, and that will greatly improve the odds of you hanging on to your gun if a thief does decide your vehicle makes an attractive target.

The sidearms chosen by law enforcement agencies usually mark the next stage of handgun innovation.

Just as the military drives rifle innovation, from the ArmaLite AR-15 in the 1960s to the .300 AAC Blackout cartridge today, when police departments start carrying a new type of handgun, civilian ownership is often not far behind.

If you want to know what’s coming down the handgun pike, then pay attention to what LEOs are carrying, because chances are that’s what will be on gun store shelves near you fairly soon.

Here’s the history of police sidearms in America, from the flintlock pistols carried by the U.S. Marshals to the Glocks carried by police departments around the country today.

The Oldest Force and Flintlock Pistols

The oldest law enforcement agency in the United States is the U.S. Marshals Service.  It dates to 1789, when George Washington appointed 13 men—one for each state—as part of the Judiciary Act.

These officers were crucial to establishing a federal judiciary system through local ties.  The first recorded U.S. Marshal was Lieutenant Colonel Nathaniel Ramsay of the 3d Maryland Regiment.

According to the Society of Cincinnati of Maryland, the Old Line State bought weapons for its militia through “firms like Halbach & Sons of Baltimore, which imported as well as manufactured guns during the Revolutionary War.”  The most popular was a flintlock pistol that cavalry units preferred.

The flintlock technology meant that the lock, or ignition mechanism, was flint—a substance able to ignite the gunpowder instantly, reliably and regardless of weather.

While Ramsay’s 3d Maryland was a military infantry unit, it’s reasonable to think that as the first designated federal marshals, Ramsay and his colleagues might also have carried flintlock pistols—which remained the standard sidearm weapon of the day until the mid-1800s.

Second Oldest and Single Action

The Texas Rangers take pride in being America’s second-oldest law enforcement agency, officially constituted in 1835.

They began as 56 men in three companies “retrieving cattle, escorting refugees, and destroying supplies and equipment” as Texas struggled to gain its independence from Mexico.

Not quite military but not quite police either, they were an armed protection force that radically changed firearms tactics.  Under Captain John Coffee “Jack” Hays, the Rangers adopted the Colt Paterson five-shot .36 caliber single-action revolver.

With no trigger guard, the Colt Paterson looked pretty slick for the time.  It had a folding trigger that unfolded only when you cocked the hammer, which also brought the next cylinder chamber into line with the barrel.

However, it was considered too fragile for the Army; today, one of these antiques in very good condition with its original case and accessories can be worth $150,000 or more.

Nevertheless, the Rangers learned to aim, fire and reload the Paterson on horseback—a huge departure from the practice of dismounting to shoot and one that the Army quickly adopted.

The five-shot Colt Paterson eventually gave way to the famous—and sturdier—six-shot .44 caliber Walker Colt single-action revolver of 1847.

The barrel was 9 inches long, and the gun was 15½ inches in total.  It weighed an ungainly 4 pounds—the carry, pommel holsters draped across the saddle.

Reportedly “as effective as a rifle at 100 yards,” it could bring down a horse as easily as a man.  It remained the most powerful handgun available until the magnums of the 1930’s.

Law Legends of the West and Colt Six-Shooters

Yes, I have to go here.  You’ve heard the names.

These were the legendary lawmen that the U.S. Marshals Service sent out to maintain order in the young territories.  They lived and died by the firearms they carried, but Colt six-shooters were staples.

1. Former Texas Ranger and Lincoln County Sherriff Pat Garrett killed Billy the Kid with a gun he’d taken from Billy Wilson, one of Kid’s gang members.

• It was a blued steel—or nickel-plated—Colt Frontier Model single-action .44-40 with a 7½-inch barrel that was later returned to Garrett’s widow in 1934.
• Garrett also reportedly carried a .38 caliber long Colt Lightning as well as a .44 caliber Smith & Wesson Russian.

2. Three Guardsmen Oklahoma Territory legend Bill Tilghman carried two sidearms.

• The first was a Colt Single Action .38 special with a 5½-inch barrel.
• The second was a nickel-plated Colt .45 caliber with diamondback rattler-embossed pearl grips inscribed by Helfricht.

3. One of the Dodge City greats, Bat Masterson laid claim to no fewer than eight single-action Colts.

• His second was an 1882 nickel-plated Colt Single Action Army .45 caliber revolver with a 4¾-inch barrel and ivory grips that went for $85,000 at auction in 2015.
• Another was a gold-plated Colt Single Action Army .45 caliber LC revolver with longhorn grips manufactured in 1899.

The East Coast and the Smith & Wesson Line

Back east, in 1835, Boston was the first city to establish a centralized municipal police department.  New York followed suit 10 years later, with many others doing likewise in the following years.

These early police forces were, however, “notoriously corrupt and flagrantly brutal.”  Much debate often surrounded their paramilitary missions and whether they should be armed at all.

New York’s police department is credited with being the first to adopt reform through rules and standardization, and sidearms were key to that initiative.

In 1885, then-police commissioner Theodore Roosevelt ordered 4,500 Colt New Police .32 caliber, six-round double-action revolvers with 4-inch barrels. He then instituted officer marksmanship qualifications, standardized weaponry and ammunition, and mandated department-wide training.

Each of the 4,500 guns carried a serial number that matched the officer’s badge number and sported “New York Police” engraved on the backstrap—introducing the idea of official personal accountability.

Those little .32s represented a new breed of revolver: double action, with a swing-out cylinder and a plunger-like ejector to discard empty cases.

For once, with the hammer uncocked, you could fire a gun repeatedly just by pulling the trigger a little harder.  For the time, they were state of the art.

Gradually, other police departments started investing in and issuing standard sidearms to their officers.

In Northern, more urban states, law enforcement forces were often involved in breaking up strikes, controlling riots and policing illegal activities like drunkenness and prostitution.  The .38 Special Police Positive and Official Police were common choices.

Interestingly, the Mason-Dixon line—the border between Pennsylvania and Maryland—was also known as the Smith & Wesson Line. It was a pronounced nod to segregation, Jim Crow and the Southern preference for large-caliber revolvers like the Smith & Wesson (S&W) Triple Lock.

Also known as the .44 Hand Ejector First Model and the New Century, the double-action six-shot Triple Lock came in .38-40, .44-40, and .45 Colt chamberings as well as the .44 Russian and the 44 Special and its 246-grain bullet.

The Triple Lock part referred to three points of added stability—lockups—that made the revolver able to withstand greater firing pressures:

• One at the rear of the cylinder face.
• One at the front of the ejector rod.
• One locking the swing-out yoke into the frame.

While S&W discontinued production after 1915, the Triple Lock was the basis for future generations of large-frame, big-bore S&W revolvers.

G-Men and Magnums

While first formed in 1908, the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the 1930s dealt with the rise of violent crime and notorious personalities like John Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde, Baby Face Nelson, the Barkers and Al Capone.

In 1934, one year after the repeal of Prohibition, with newly awarded arrest powers, the Bureau officially armed its graduating class of agents with Colt Official Police .38 Specials.

Colt’s Official Police revolver was the gun of choice for many police departments—from cities like San Francisco and Portland, to states like Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey and Connecticut—following its introduction in 1927.

However, the Bureau also subsequently issued S&W .38 Specials as well as Colt Government Model .38 Super Automatics and S&W .357 Registered Magnums, later known as Model 27s.

Marketed as “The Most Powerful Handgun in the World,” the .357 N frame Registered Magnum revolver quickly became a Bureau favorite thanks to its superior power and performance.

While it came in 23 different barrel lengths—as well as assorted front and rear sight, finish and grip options—agent guns typically had barrels of 3.5, 4 or 5 inches.

Many police officers adopted the .357, too.  Registered Magnums were shipped to law enforcement officers all across the country, including, for example, the:

• Kansas City Police—4-inch barrels.
• Utah Highway Patrol—6½-inch barrels.
• City of Indianapolis Police Department—5-inch barrels.
• Tucson Police Department—three shipments of 12 considered prewar but likely non-registered.

By 1954, the Model 28 Patrolman had evolved as the economy model, minus the little extras—bluing instead of polishing and a bead-blasted matte top strap rather than a cross-hatched, checkered one, for example.

By the 60s, lots of police departments were issuing 6-inch Model 28s, from Columbia, Missouri, to the Washington State Patrol.

“Luxury” or economic, the magnum revolver had become a preferred law enforcement staple that lasted for most departments well into the 1980s.

Shootouts and The Rise of the Semi-Auto

For a long time, semi-automatics were considered both too expensive and not nearly as reliable or effective—think stopping power—as the preferred police revolvers.

Colt’s M1911 pistol was an exception, but it had its drawbacks.  The carry method with the hammer cocked and locked required more exacting training and handling practices.

More popular, the S&W Model 39—a 9mm—was ergonomic and slim, with a single-column magazine as well as advanced features like a double-action single-shot trigger, open top slide and slide-mounted decocker.

It was that flat profile and enhanced unit efficiency that led the Illinois State Patrol to adopt the Model 39 for its officers in 1967.

Noted as prone to jams, the Model 39 led to the 39-2, which had an improved feed ramp and a shortened, narrowed extractor less prone to breakage. Illinois continued to issue the highly reliable 39-2s for more than a decade.

While the shift from revolvers—or wheel guns—to semis was anything but uniform, two factors sped it up. The first was a shootout in 1986 in Miami, Florida, in which two robbery suspects outgunned eight FBI agents.

In the aftermath of the Miami shootout, the Bureau started searching for a handgun that offered more effective stopping power without cumbersome reloads under fire. At that time, the answer came in the form of the 10mm S&W Model 1076.

As Model 1076s proved a bit ungainly and somewhat unreliable, they gave way to SIG 226s and, later, 228s.

However, the real game changer was the Austrian-made Glock.  Offering up to 17 rounds, a mere 5-pound trigger pull, lighter body weight thanks to polymers and fully interchangeable parts, the Glock promised firepower, accurate ease of use and affordability.

Visit Glock’s site, and you’ll learn that “approximately 65% of police departments in America already put a GLOCK police pistol in between them and the problem.”

Initially, Glock offered police departments its pistols with significant discounts while also launching movie, music and publicity campaigns. Later, the company encouraged departments to upgrade through trade-in programs.

St. Paul, Minnesota, and Miami, Florida, were the first of the large police departments to adopt the Glock. By 1994, the New York Police Department was issuing 2nd Generation Glock 19s, and many other departments—as well as bad guys—quickly followed suit.

Policing Sidearms Today

Today, federal law enforcement agents with the Department of Justice still favor the Glock.  The U.S. Marshals Service; Drug Enforcement Administration; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and Federal Bureau of Investigation have all issued Glock 22s, 23s and 27s, typically with .40 caliber S&W chambering.

In 2016, Glock closed yet another deal with the Bureau worth $85 million.  However, this time it was for specially modified 5th Generation Glock 17s and 19s in 9mm Luger.

To boot, the Bureau had reportedly been contemplating that other popular modern semi—the Sig Sauer P320 which was recently chosen as the new US Army sidearm.

Secret Service agents carry Sig Sauer P229s while Air Marshals have P250s.

At the local level, perhaps the New York Police Department is once again a quite accurate example of police departments across America.  It allows its officers three options: the Glock 19, the Sig Sauer P226 and the S&W 5946.

Among law enforcement, these represent the big three in sidearms—Glock, Sig Sauer and S&W—and the three cartridges of choice—9mm, .40 S&W and .45 ACP. However, Ruger, Beretta and Springfield Armory handguns remain in the running, too.

Something to note is that while many agencies and departments issue service weapons, mandating their exclusive use, some departments still require officers to purchase their own sidearms.

When a Police Executive Research Forum survey—part of the National Gun Violence Research Center project—examined service weapon policies and practices at more than 50 of the largest police departments, it found that:

• Officers at 73 percent of the departments carried only semi-automatic weapons, with the remainder carrying either semis or revolvers.
• Nearly 70 percent of the departments—69 percent, to be exact—acquire and provide all weapons for their sworn officers to carry. However, that also means that nearly a third don’t.
• More than half had service weapon providers bid competitively while not quite a quarter relied on sole-source agreements.
• Of the handguns purchased in the previous 5 years, nearly 60 percent of responding agencies had purchased Glocks, 20 percent S&Ws, about 12 percent Sig Sauers and about 6 percent Berettas.
• Sixty-five percent purchased .40-caliber weapons.
• Sixty-three percent purchased 15-round magazines.

So, there you have it—the high points, from Colts to Glocks, from flintlocks to semi-automatics.  I hope you enjoyed the tour.

Law enforcement weaponry, ammunition, practices and daily challenges have evolved over the decades, and the only thing certain for the future is that they’ll continue to change—perhaps dramatically.