Fifty Shades of FDE

One of the most important duties as a Law Enforcement Officer is to protect. It is different for each Officer, depending on their assignment. Many times, we don’t have the luxury of choosing who we protect, not that it matters because we have a job to do.
Yes, we protect the innocent from the criminals and we also protect the criminals when they are in our custody.
Many of you think that Bailiffs only stay inside the courtroom and never leave their post for any reason. That may be true for some, but not all, especially me. Protection is my number one priority on a daily basis. My judge jokes about me being more reliable and effective than the Secret Service to jurors. I am in charge and in control of my courtroom. I must protect my own life so that I can effectively protect my judge, court staff and everybody in the courtroom.
Security in a courtroom can get a little tricky with different cases coming through. My job doesn’t confine me to just my courtroom, another form of protection and service that we provide are escorts. If anyone requests to be escorted to their vehicles, we make sure they leave the courthouse safely. I’ve escorted many people, from victims of a crime, attorneys, jurors, witnesses and even defendants.  Escorts are one of the most dangerous tasks because a lot of the time you are out in the open and sometimes you run into the person or persons that are the threat to the people you are escorting.
Anything can happen during an escort therefore I make sure that I am capable of handling whatever threat I may be facing to the best of my ability with the equipment that I have on me. I’ll admit that I’ve had the hairs on the back of my neck raise on many of the escorts that I’ve done. Some of the most dangerous that I’ve been involved with involved gang trials where the threat is very real to those who testify. With cases involving gangs, you have gang members that are in and around the courthouse there to intimidate or eliminate witnesses to keep them from testifying against their fellow gang member facing prison time. When a case involving gangs is over and there is a conviction, the jurors may face intimidation and retaliation by the defendant’s family and other gang members.
The environment and atmosphere in and around the courthouse can be volatile at times. It is our job to keep everyone safe. The threat and dangers are always present, the best we can do is to prepare and minimize it with training and experience, utilizing the best possible tactics available.
You can see why I take my job so seriously. It’s because others depend on me to make sure that they get to go home safe. I owe it to myself, my family, to everyone that I protect everyday to be the best at what I do.

May is dedicated to Memorialize Peace Officers who have paid the ultimate sacrifice, those who have fallen in the line of duty. This week is Police Week and unfortunately names are added to the Peace Officer’s Memorial in Washington D.C.
It doesn’t matter what color uniform, patch that is on the shoulders of each Officer. We are all  part of one family: The Thin Blue Line.
It is an inherently dangerous profession to be in. It is however not the most dangerous, according to some research on the subject, Law Enforcement doesn’t make it into the top 10. What separates Peace Officers with other professions is that the job requires each Officer to risk their own safety and lives to protect others. We wear bullet resistant vests, carry tools on our belts, a handgun and extra ammunition because it is our job to handle threats that nobody else will. Courage is being scared but moving forward anyways. In many cases, the Officer doesn’t get to go home at the end of their shift. There are many stories of heroism that do not get shared.
I myself have attended more memorial services in my relatively short career than I can remember. I do my absolute best to attend every service that I am able to. I do so because it is important to me personally, that I pay my respects to a fallen officer and their family. I may not know them personally, but they stood up for the same thing that I believe in. It is least I could to do to honor them. They all paid the ultimate sacrifice, they left behind their families and it is our duty to remember them and keep their memories alive. Rest In Peace brothers and sisters, my thoughts go out to you and your families.

This year has been the best year yet in my career when it comes to training. In my personal and professional opinion, there are three  areas or fields of training that are all equally important and dependent on each other to help make a Law Enforcement Officer or Law Abiding CCW Citizen the most effective in the utilization of force.
The three areas or fields are:
1. Simulator Scenarios
2. Simunition Scenarios
3. Live Fire Range Training
What makes this year the best for me is that I have done all three already this year. I am always a proponent of training because we simply don’t get enough in the Law Enforcement field unfortunately. Training is expensive and either takes officers off from work or incurs overtime. Once an officer graduates from the academy, the training they receive is minimal, especially in the use of firearms.
Firearms training is extremely important because I’m responsible for every round that I fire. Most importantly, if I don’t stop a threat with accuracy, I can be wounded or killed. Secondly, if I miss and hit an innocent bystander, I am failing at my mission to protect and serve. Not to mention the liability involved. All LEO’s carry a pistol on their person as a primary weapon. Most don’t have a patrol rifle or shotgun assigned to them and if they do, they’re not always readily available. A pistol or handgun is primarily a defensive weapon and is not the best weapon to take down threats as efficiently as would a long gun. They also are limited in magazine capacity even with hi-capacity magazines. This makes accuracy extremely crucial because it might take multiple rounds on target to effectively stop a threat. An officer doesn’t choose when and where a gunfight is going to take place. This isn’t the Wild West, there’s no showdown at high noon in the middle of main street. With that in mind, the amount of stress will have an effect on the officer’s performance. If they are well-trained, they’ll probably fare better than an officer with less training. It makes sense right?
You’d be surprised on how many LEO’s do not take their skills and weapon proficiency as seriously as I do.
I titled this post “Train Hard. Fight Easy (or Easier)” what I mean by this is that the more you train, the more effective you will be when the time chooses you. I also say easier because nothing is easy when you are fighting for your life.
I might be assigned as a Bailiff, and my chances of getting in a gunfight are much less than that of a patrol officer, but then again I don’t get to choose when and where, therefore I’d better be damn good because I want to go home to my family.

Onto the first field: Simulator Scenario training. My department sent me to Artemis Defense Institute for this training. They utilize the VirTra simulator system, which is light years ahead from the force simulators that I’ve gone through in the past. They have 100, 180 and 300 degree screens. What makes the VirTra system superior to the older simulators is that the graphics are in high definition, the wrap around 300° gives you a more realistic view of your surroundings and finally, the simulator weapons themselves are impressive. Gone are the DOA guns that were not realistic without any recoil. The simulator Glocks here have metal magazines that are filled with compressed air and have whatever amount of shots needed in each, requiring you to reload if necessary. The magazine cycles the pistol and gives the shooter a close representation of what the true felt recoil the real steel weapon has. What you can do safely in a simulator is that you can make shoot/don’t shoot decisions without any safety equipment. At Artemis we were able to work on decision making, accuracy, shooting while moving and weapons manipulation. You definitely get the absolute most you can get out of a virtual simulator there at Artemis, but it’s only one of three fields of training. For more information on Artemis, go to: http://www.artemisdefenseinstitute.com/

The second field of training is with the use of Simunitions. My department also sent me along with a lot of my partners to get Active Shooter training by members of our SWAT team. Simunitions are real weapons that were converted to be dedicated training weapons. They cannot fire a live round. They fire a 7mm paint projectile that are almost a $1 a round so it gets very expensive to run a class like this. Simunition rounds hurt when you get hit, especially at CQB ranges and when they’re fired from a long gun. With them, you can have actual force on force scenarios where you are shooting at an actual live adversary or adversaries. The sim rounds for short, have limitations however, they are not very accurate and they don’t have a lot of range. To be safe, there needs to be safety equipment worn and it is not natural when you have it all on. If the simulator didn’t get your stress levels up (and it definitely does) training with sims will because you’re getting actual shots fired at you and it stings when you’re hit. We all learned some valuable skills individually and more importantly as a team. As realistic as sims are, nothing compares to actually shooting your real weapon, leading us to our final field:

Live Fire Training at the range. In my previous post, I did an AAR or After Action Report on Falcon Ops Group LEO/ MIL 1.5 Pistol Deployment Course that I took last week. I won’t go in depth with how the course was here, you can read the AAR if you’re interested. I’ve taken several classes with reputable trainers over the years and they all have taught me to be a better gunfighter. I’m always learning something new, improving my proficiency and highlighting areas where I need to work on to be better. Shooting live ammunition is the real test in accuracy while in the safest, controlled environment as you can be, while under the watchful eye of experienced instructors who can see what you are doing right or wrong. Every firearms class that I’ve attended focuses on the fundamentals of shooting. Without the fundamentals down, you’re not going to be effective with anything else. If you’re a good shooter already, it’s a good refresher. Going to the range on your own time is good, but if you’re going to an indoor or outdoor public ranges, you’ll most likely will not be able to shoot from drawing from your holster and definitely not be shooting and moving because it’s simply not safe to do so. In a course, you get to do all of that safely. You don’t get to shoot steel targets unless you have your own. I like to shoot steel targets because you get a positive ding every time you get a round on target. It’s fun and allows for students to go through without have to check the paper targets for hits after each run. It adds to some realism because the steel reacts by making a ding and in reality a threat will have some visual or auditory reaction when you have hits on target. At this course and the previous courses I’ve attended, I learned how to shoot my pistol accurately, shooting while moving, shooting in different positions, manipulate my pistol with reloads and clearing malfunctions. For more information on Falcon Ops Group, go to:
www.falconopsgroup.net
It’s difficult to get time to train. I have a family to be with and I work Monday through Friday. The weekend is my family time. It’s rare to get funding to go to training put on by the department so I always jump at any opportunity that arises. For the simunition training, I along with my partners had to sacrifice an entire weekend to attend that training. If you know me, you know that my family comes first and if I’m going to spend time away from them, it’d better be worth it. I can say it was all worth it because all of the training I received has made me as proficient as I am today and makes me and my partners safer every time I’m 10-8. Training doesn’t have to be at certain facilities vor ranges. You can do a lot of it at home! Dry fire practice and movement drills can be done in your room or living room safely as long as you follow the gun safety rules. It only takes a few minutes a week to do this and it’s very helpful. I call all the different skills, shooting positions and techniques tools that are in my toolbox. Will I ever need to shoot from the dynamic prone position? I don’t know, but I sure know how! Knowing how to deal with a certain scenario before you have it happen in front of you is better than having to come up with a solution on the spot, so the more tools in your toolbox, the better off you are.

Training. For a true professional in any field, it never ends. In the field of Law Enforcement it is especially true. Every LEO goes through an academy, some are tougher than others. Everyone must pass the minimal requirements in order to graduate. Most academies, like the one I attended are called “Basic” Academies. That is because as difficult the academy is to complete, everything you learn is just the basic knowledge that is required to start your career.
It has always been suggested by instructors and tactical staff that one should seek further training in the future. It is a suggestion that I have taken to heart.
I will only focus on gunfighting classes that I have taken with this post focusing on my lastest class I attended last week.
This is my After Action Report (AAR) of Falcon Ops Group LEO/MIL 1.5 Pistol Deployment:
This was a 1 day/8 hour course that was for LEO’s and active Military members only and it was completely sold out. Since it was a one day course, no time was wasted. We quickly signed in and loaded up and went through the safety brief. All of the instructors were well experienced in gunfighting and are currently LEO’s or retired or come from the competition world. They all have nicknames with the lead instructor being called “Hollywood” because of all the movie quotes he mentions throughout the day.
After the safety brief, Hollywood went over the 7 shooting fundamentals: Stance, Grip, Sight Alignment, Sight picture, Breathing, Trigger Control, Follow Through. He then demonstrated each and told us why Trigger Control was the most important of them all. Hollywood explains that with their teaching method, they will tell us to do something a certain way and will always tell us why they want us to do it that way; that way, we better understand the technique.
We did some basic drills to focus on the fundamentals then we did a partner drill that was extremely difficult for me and many of the other students to accomplish. The first shooter shoots a shot anywhere on the target, the partner then follows with drawing their pistol and firing a shot with the goal of hitting the first hole. This was repeated five times per shooter then the roles get reversed. I only got close to one with one of my shots.

The Falcon Six drill was fun and challenging at the same time. You have six small circle targets and you shoot two rounds each with 4 rounds in your first two magazines, thus requiring you to reload after two targets. It was a great drill for testing your speed and accuracy. They teach us that accuracy is final. I definitely wasn’t the fastest shooter out there but I never missed on the several runs we did with this drill.
Right after lunch, we got into more dynamic shooting. Shooting and moving, shooting from dynamic positions like dynamic prone and having shoot/don’t shoot scenarios. The only part of the class I had some confusion with was the shoot/ don’t shoot drills. The instructors used picture targets and tape to cover certain areas on the pictures. We were supposed to make a decision and at the same time, communicate with the subjects, your partners with what you saw and when you needed them to cover you when you needed to reload. When it was my turn, I didn’t know who/what was in play. After the drill was over, the instructors explained what was what and what to look for and that’s when I really understood the drill. I gave my feedback about this drill and the instructor told me that they will definitely make changes to it in the future.
Then we moved onto the steel targets. With them, we had to move laterally, turn and face the targets and shoot. We then got down and went into the dynamic prone on both sides. Hollywood then taught us the best way to move with your pistol in a different position than I was trained with in the past. It is a modified version of pistol indexing. Your pistol is pointed up near your head with your trigger finger out of the trigger guard and on the frame. this way, your reaction hand/arm is free to move obstacles, bystanders, fight off an attacker and you will not point your muzzle at your partners or anyone you don’t want to. I thought this technique was very useful, especially in practice. Hollywood also taught us how to properly pie a corner while making yourself the smallest target possible. We then were sent downrange to shoot and move from cover to cover until you got good hits on steel with resounding ‘dings’. At the end of the class, we had a shoot off starting with a steel torso at 25 yards, miss and you’re in the loser’s circle. I miss my fit shot and was out, the sole winner got out to 50 yards.
At Falcon Ops, they didn’t want to yell at us because we wouldn’t learn as well and retain the information. They only yelled at us twice, once when a student muzzled an instructor and second when my group was missing 50-60% of our shots on the shooting and moving drills.
Overall it was a great course and training experience. I took away new techniques and I know what I need to work on in order to improve. I do plan on taking more classes in the future. I highly recommend Falcon Ops Group, I had a lot of fun while learning from experienced instructors. For more information and course schedules go to:
www.falconops.net

I dedicate this post to my dad. It’s his birthday today. Both he and my mom passed away when I was a teenager in a car accident.
My dad taught me many lessons in life. He raised me, made me into the man I am today with the limited time he had. Many of the lessons included: respect others, especially your elders, work hard in life, enjoy life, always do the right thing because it is the right thing to do, be responsible for your actions.
I’m going to focus on the last lesson for this post. In my experience, professionally and personally, I see too often that adults do not take personal responsibility seriously. Professionally, I don’t know how many people that I have talked to over the years, whether it was in jail or in court, that pass the responsibility of their own actions on others. It’s rare to hear someone own up to why they are in their current situation.
Personally, I see and read about pretty much more of the same.
I can only speak for my own experiences. I am not perfect and never say that I am. I myself am responsible for every decision that I make. I was forced into making adult decisions at an early age. I decided to do whatever it takes to make my parents proud. I am where I am today due to the decisions that I have made. I stand by each of those decisions, both good and bad. Bad decisions, without making mistakes and acknowledging them, you are definitely doomed to repeating them. I know I am a better person by being responsible one. It is difficult at times to swallow my pride and admit fault when I make a bad decision, but that’s life and I’m only human. My dad was a good man. He worked hard to support our family and I strive everyday to be a man he’s proud to have raised.

AR-15’s, there are so many different manufacturers to choose from. I myself only have one. I choose a gas piston rifle: the LWRCI M6A2 chambered in 5.56 or .223. As with all firearms, it comes down to the owner’s preference. I’m not here to say that gas piston is better than direct impingement. Don’t know what I’m talking about, Google it! There’s plenty of articles and opinions out there. I used to have a Frankenstein AR-15 with a CMMG upper. I sold it to a friend not long after I had the M6A2. Anyone who owns a DI AR-15 knows that it’s a pain to clean after a long day of shooting. With the M6A2’s short stroke gas piston system, cleaning is an easy task; just clean the barrel and wipe down the bolt and that’s pretty much all there is to it. I didn’t choose my AR just because it was easy to clean, I choose it after I did my research. I do a lot of research before I come up with my decision to purchase anything, especially firearms.
LWRCI is known for making high quality short stroke gas piston rifles. All of their rifles are made here in the USA. I originally wanted an HK MR556, but with msrp starting around $3,000.00, that was out of my reach financially. So LWRCI was my next choice. The M6A2 along with all of the rifles they make have 41V45 steel alloy barrels that are cold hammer forged and coated with a NiCorr finish. A standard M4/AR-15 barrel usually lasts about 6-10,000 rounds before needing to be replaced, the LWRCI barrels are rated to last 20,000. The Bolt Carrier is nickel coated to enhance reliability. Overall, every piece in their rifles are of high quality and made to last. This is why I only need one AR-15-want is another story as I always want more! I bought my M6A2 many years ago for $2,100. It’s considered a legacy rifle system on their website currently. If you follow the gun industry, there’s always something new coming out. My M6A2 is still relevant even today and probably for my entire lifetime. It has a mid-length Troy picatinny rail and BUIS.
Appearance: My personal M6A2 has Magpul furniture all over it: an ACS stock, MIAD grip, XTM rail covers, AFG1. All of the furniture has been customized with a dye job by a good friend of mine and it looks close to Multicam.
Optics: I have a Trijicon RX30 reflex sight with a 6 MOA Amber dot. I choose this optic because it requires no batteries to operate, it uses fiber optics to catch ambient light and self adjusts brightness automatically. In low light/no light, it uses tritium. The dot is a bit big at 6 MOA, but it is easy to acquire and it is good enough to engage a man sized target over a 100 yards and beyond. It is zeroed in at 50 yards. The Troy HK style BUIS are heavy duty and well made.

Weapon Light: currently attached is a Streamlight TLR-1 HP LED weapon light. It has an output of 200 lumens and runtime of 1.75 hours. I have a remote switch that attaches to the picatinny rail, which makes it easy to switch on with my support thumb.
Muzzle Device: it came with a standard A2 birdcage and a good friend of mine gave me a Surefire MB556K, which is now attached. I still have yet to shoot it with it on, but I am sure it’s going to be loud! Surefire is developing a concussion reduction device that will attach to it and I plan on getting one when they’re available.
On the range: the M6A2 is accurate. At 50 yards where it is zeroed, it shoots groups much smaller than a dime. I’ve run it through classes and training days at the range with no failures whatsoever.
In conclusion, the LWRCI M6A2 exceeds my expectations and requirements of a carbine. It’s much heavier than most other AR-15’s, and has a price tag of more than double of a standard rifle. It’s not the latest and greatest rifle out there, but it has been reliable and accurate. I am confident I got my money’s worth out of it.

This is my first gun review post. I am a firearm enthusiast if you don’t know that yet. I’m not the best shooter out there and will never claim to be. I am however, very effective with my pistol and am comfortable with almost any weapon system that is in my hands. This comes from owning different types of firearms, shooting my friends’ and renting guns at gun ranges. Some of you will be surprised to the fact that most cops are not ‘gun people’. A lot of cops have one firearm- their department issued duty weapon. To many it is just a job. As long as they qualify, they’re good to go. To me, it is probably the most important tool on my duty belt for many reasons: 1. It is the only tool that can solve the most dire of situations, a deadly force incident. 2. It is a deadly weapon and it can be used against myself if it is taken away. 3. I am responsible for each and every round that I fire.
As you can see, it is a lot of responsibility to have carrying a gun. Training is always ongoing and having confidence in your ability to use your duty weapon will one day make a difference when it counts.
Onto my review: my current duty weapon is the Sig Sauer of Sig Arms P229R 9mm, equipped with a Surefire X200b.
Sig Sauer is a high end weapons manufacturer. They are a Swiss company that has all of their weapons built in Germany. They now have factories in the US. The handguns are expensive, with msrp starting out at $800 and up (for the classic full metal framed pistols) you definitely get what you pay for when it comes to firearms.
The P229R is considered a compact version of the P226R. Commander Steve McGarrett from Hawaii Five-0 (my wife and I love the remake) carries one of many versions of P226 throughout the show; with his SEAL background, it makes sense since the MK25 is the handgun of choice for the US Navy SEALs.

The P229 has a shorter barrel and grip. Why not carry a full-size P226? My P229 was my off-duty weapon and I decided to make it my duty weapon mainly because I already had it and didn’t want to buy a new gun with all of it’s accessories. If I had a P226 I’d be carrying it. The trigger system is DA/SA or Double Action/Single Action with a decocking lever. It has a passive firing pin safety and doesn’t have a physical safety switch. It can be safely carried in a holster with the hammer down or decocked. With the hammer down, the first DA trigger pull is heavy at 10 lbs. The following SA trigger is set at 4.4 lbs. It takes a lot to get used to a DA/SA trigger system. It requires a lot of practice to master the heavy DA trigger. This setup originates from European Law Enforcement, they deemed it safer for officers to carry a pistol that had a heavy first trigger pull to make sure that the first shot is deliberately pulled. Although I agree with that way of thinking; if you train correctly, your trigger finger never enters inside the trigger guard until you are on target and ready to shoot. It however, makes it very safe to carry.
Sig Sauer guns are known for their durability, reliability and accuracy. That is why the Navy SEALs carry them and many law enforcement agencies.
My P229R is probably the single pistol that I have the most experience shooting. I had my department armorer install Sig’s Short Reset Trigger (SRT). Before the SRT, there was no real positive reset, you’d have to totally disengage from the trigger to let it reset. With the new trigger, making faster, accurate follow up shots easier to accomplish. If you have a Sig Sauer pistol, I highly recommend this upgrade!
I have put thousands of rounds through it from qualifying, practicing and through training classes. Other than some rare magazine failures, the gun always fires. It has been drug through the dirt, while in a drop leg holster and it never stopped shooting.
Weapon Mounted Light (WML) in my opinion every duty weapon should be equipped with one. Doesn’t matter what your assignment is, or even if you’re law enforcement. You never know when you might find yourself in a low-light/no-light scenario. If you carry a gun, you better have at least a flashlight on your person. If you think shooting in a high stress environment is tough, (look at the shooting statistics of Officer Involved Shootings) try shooting one-handed with a flashlight in the other. If you train often, then that’s no problem. If you had a WML on your gun however, you can identify your target and shoot with a two-handed grip, allowing you to make (more) accurate shots. This is why I have one on my duty weapon. Surefire needs no introduction. They are also very expensive. Again, you get what you pay for. The X200b is a bit outdated with the 500 lumen X300U now available, but it still works fine and therefore doesn’t need to be replaced. The LED bulb puts out 80 lumens of light and is indestructible, never bothered by recoil.
Together, the P229R and the X200b makes a reliable and accurate duty weapon for me.
In the near future: I am waiting to pick up my Heckler and Koch VP9. That may one day be my duty weapon, we’ll see!
Please let me know what you think about my review and if you have any questions, I’ll answer them!

*Note: whatever I mention in this post or any of my posts for that matter, are NOT here to be used as legal advice!*

Traffic Court is probably my least favorite calendars to work for many reasons:
1. In my opinion, the fines and fees are ridiculous. The State takes the majority of it. I therefore have some empathy for everyone that comes in…keyword is some; many however are deserving of the ticket they were issued.
2. The defendants aren’t usually fun to deal with. They are not used to the criminal justice system, therefore they tend to act more aggressively in some cases than a person who has much more serious charges against them.
3. The calendar is usually huge with hundreds of cases to get through in a day.
A judge once said: “Traffic infractions aren’t crimes of intent…”
Some facts, through my observations:
1. Those who challenge their tickets in court and have the Officer testifying usually lose 80-90% of the time.
2. Those who choose to testify during their trial, usually incriminate themselves in their testimony.
3. Those pesky traffic red-light cameras are spot on! Not only are they accurate, they also record video of seconds before, during and after a violation.
I want to share some of the excuses that don’t seem to work, that I’ve heard:
1. “I was only in the Carpool lane because I had to avoid an accident because traffic just stopped in front of me.”
2. “I was just keeping up with traffic, everybody was going the same speed.”
3. “The radar/laser/lidar must’ve mistaken my car for someone else’s!”
4. “I was not going as fast as the Officer said I was…I was going __mph” (usually over the posted)
5. “I don’t think the Officer saw me…I didn’t see them. I wouldn’t have been ______ if I saw them there!”
These are some of the most common excuses I’ve heard. Bottom line, traffic officers write these citations in order to save lives so please drive safe!

When I got into this line of work, I never really thought much medical skills. It wasn’t my job to patch people up…so I thought. I didn’t want to be a doctor or paramedic because I’d rather not deal with blood and gore. In the academy, the medical/first aid training that we received was in my opinion, inadequate when I think of it now. We got CPR dialed in but everything else, not so much.
A few years back, I decided to take a Shooter’s Aid course taught by Magpul Dynamics. I figured I should know how to save my own life or that of my partners’ of one of us got shot. That class was a wake-up call for me. In the academy, we were taught not to apply tourniquets, unless it was the last resort. What I learned was the exact opposite. Everything taught in that class was up to date with all the current medical knowledge that comes from our military’s experience in our current wars. You put that tourniquet on ASAP!
Emergency medicine is every first responders’ responsibility, especially Peace Officers because we are usually at the scene first and although our fellow first responder colleagues (Fire and EMS) have extremely fast response times, a victim bleeding out may not make it until they get to them-and that’s not counting for a hot zone, where they are not allowed to come in.
Looking back at why I chose this profession, I want to help people and make a difference, to save lives. I can only do that with me having knowledge of what to do when it needs to get done!

What you carry on duty is your preference, as long as you’re within your department’s guidelines and policy. Fortunately I’m allowed to choose what I carry, as long as I purchase the weapon and all of it’s accessories myself. Some departments do not allowed their officers to carry anything other than what they are issued. I’ve had 3 duty weapons in my career so far.

Glock 22 .40 cal.
This pistol was most likely the one that the infamous ATF agent used to accidentally (or negligently) shot himself in his foot with; there’s no such thing as a Glock 40 as he states in the video. The Glock 22 is the .40 caliber model that is almost identical to Gaston Block’s already famous Glock 17 chambered in 9mm. The 22 is my department’s current issued duty weapon, it replaced the dreaded SW99, Smith & Wesson’s version of the Walther P99. The SW99 has numerous issues; they would have parts break off during range sessions. So in came the the Glock 22. I was one of the first classes to get the new department issued Glocks. I could’ve carried whatever I wanted in the academy, but I didn’t want to stand out by being the only recruit with a different weapon. The Glock 22 is an excellent weapon system that is inexpensive and extremely reliable. I was shocked to learn from the armorers, that in order to take the gun apart, the trigger needed to be pulled. In order for the Glock to have the least amount of parts, this was the end result. Other than that issue, the weapon never failed me after thousands of rounds in the academy. I didn’t carry the Glock for long afterwards. Like I said at the beginning, it is all about preference.

Heckler and Koch USP .40 cal
When I turned 21, the legal age to possess a handgun, I went straight to the gunstore and purchased my H&K USP .40. With everything that I buy, when it comes to weapons and duty equipment, I do extensive research before I make up my mind. During my research for a pistol, it came down to the H&K USP .40 and the Sig Sauer P226 in .40. The H&K narrowly won that competition. I carried the USP for a few years and it worked great with no problems until I mounted a weapon mounted light on it. One drawback on the design is the proprietary H&K rail. In order for me to attach my Surefire X200b weapon mounted light onto it, I needed a rail adapter made by Surefire. The X200b also had a pressure switch that ran under the trigger guard and was activated by squeezing your middle finger. With a combination of the rail, light and pressure switch along with the placement of the magazine release, this led to a unique and deadly malfunction: whenever I shot a round with this setup, the magazine would be ejected-every time! Please note, I’m the only one who has had this malfunction with this setup. I have asked everyone who has my similar setup if they have had any issues and it seems like I’m the only one. As a result, I ran the gun without a light until I ran into problems with my magazines. My magazines wouldn’t lock the slide to the rear when they were empty. After that issue, I no longer wanted the USP as my duty weapon. Sure I could’ve replaced the magazine springs or replaced them, but I really wanted to have the capability of employing a WML. Having a WML greatly enhances your ability to identify your target in a low light or no light situation, while allowing you to fire your weapon with a standard two hand grip.

Sig Sauer P229R 9mm
This pistol was actually my off-duty weapon for a while until I went with a subcompact option. The Sig Sauer P229R is the compact version of the P226R. Sig Sauer pistols are known for their reliability and are used by the US Navy SEALs (MK25), US Secret Service (P229), US Air Marshals, FBI and many other agencies and departments. The ‘R’ after P229 indicates that it has a picatinny rail on it’s frame, which makes it easier to attach a WML or laser etc. to the weapon. My P229R is currently my duty weapon and it has the Surefire X200b WML attached. I have had no problems with the Sig, I’ve been drug through the dirt with it in my drop leg holster during a training class and it was just caked in sand and dirt. When I drew it to fire, it performed flawlessly. It lives true to one of Sig Sauer’s slogans, “to he’ll and back reliability.” For now it’ll be my duty weapon for the time being. Who knows what I might choose later on…