{"id":2870,"date":"2012-10-05T09:37:52","date_gmt":"2012-10-05T13:37:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/?p=2870"},"modified":"2012-10-05T09:37:52","modified_gmt":"2012-10-05T13:37:52","slug":"police-technology-meh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/?p=2870","title":{"rendered":"Police Technology. Meh."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>There have been many technological changes in the last quarter century that have made the copper\u2019s job\u2026different.\u00a0 Not always better, but certainly not the same.<\/p>\n

When I started out, our duty belts held a .38 cal. revolver (S&W M64), 2 HKS speedloaders, large Motorola MT500 portable radio, handcuffs, and rings for a full-length Monadnock PR-24 sidehandle baton and Mag-Lite.\u00a0 My agency made the switch to Smith & Wesson 669 9mm semi-automatics pistols in 1987.<\/p>\n

The firepower on a patrolman\u2019s belt has definitely increased.\u00a0 We got hi-cap magazines for the S&W autoloader that topped off at 15 rounds.\u00a0 Forty-six rounds of 9mm sure beat 18 slow-to-reload wheelgun shots.\u00a0 My issued handgun now has .40 cal. S&W bullets.\u00a0 Some of our guys wear new triple mag pouches, bringing the deadly cartridge count to 49.<\/p>\n

Several years after I was hired, we would get OC spray and collapsible PR-24\u2019s.\u00a0 Monadnock kept our business when we switched from the old PR-24\u2019s to the newer Autolock batons.\u00a0 I still miss my PR-24.<\/p>\n

My agency had ECD\u2019s back in the mid-1980\u2019s.\u00a0 Our SWAT Team originally fielded the now-archaic Tasertron TE-86.\u00a0 It was marginally effective.\u00a0 We moved on to the TASER 34,000 and then the TASER M26.\u00a0 Since these were restricted to SWAT, only some of us were allowed to carry them on the street.\u00a0 It would not be until into the 2000\u2019s that each officer was issued an X-26, which are now being replaced by X2\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Light emitting diode technology definitely altered the standard duty flashlight. \u00a0Big incandescent Mag-lites have yielded to smaller and brighter Streamlight products such as the LED Stinger and Strion.\u00a0 Add to that the rail-mounted LED weaponlights that now dress the front of a semi-auto pistol.<\/p>\n

The Motorola\u2019s MT500 was state of the art in portable radio technology in the 1980\u2019s.\u00a0 It weighed a billion pounds.\u00a0 When we jumped up to the 800 MHz system in the late 1990\u2019s, the latest MT1000 walkies registered a third smaller and lighter than the old \u201cBrick.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I point out all these technological changes to illustrate that though the accoutrement of a police officer has changed, police work itself hasn\u2019t.\u00a0 Each item carried on his\/her person exists to aid the officer in doing his job.\u00a0 The trappings have gotten better, but they strive to achieve the same four basic functions:\u00a0 lethal protection, less lethal control and restraint, artificial lighting, and communication.<\/p>\n

When it comes down to brass tacks, it is the police officer or deputy in the uniform that is the most important component in the law enforcement equation.\u00a0 This is still a job of face-to-face interaction, not toys.\u00a0 While I am comforted by the equipment I gird around my waist every shift, I could still hitch on the 1980\u2019s duty belt and get the job done.\u00a0 So could you.<\/p>\n

Randall<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There have been many technological changes in the last quarter century that have made the copper\u2019s job\u2026different.\u00a0 Not always better, but certainly not the same. When I started out, our duty belts held a .38 cal. revolver (S&W M64), 2 HKS speedloaders, large Motorola MT500 portable radio, handcuffs, and rings for a full-length Monadnock PR-24 sidehandle baton and Mag-Lite.\u00a0 My agency made the switch to Smith & Wesson 669 9mm semi-automatics pistols in 1987. The firepower on a patrolman\u2019s belt has definitely increased.\u00a0 We got hi-cap magazines for the S&W autoloader that topped off at 15 rounds.\u00a0 Forty-six rounds of 9mm sure beat 18 slow-to-reload wheelgun shots.\u00a0 My issued handgun … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6,189,15,306],"tags":[525,526,524,310,523,522],"class_list":["post-2870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-firearms","category-flashlights","category-taser","category-technology","tag-law-enforcement-technology","tag-motorola-mt500","tag-police-handguns","tag-police-technology","tag-sig-sauer-p226","tag-smith-wesson-police-revolver"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t