Bobby Inman
As most of you know, I am a retired Police Officer but more than anything, I am a “gun guy.” I have been fascinated by firearms from a very young age. I became a Firearms Instructor at the start of my career as a Police Officer and still hold that certification. I recently read an article about the New York Police Department that has me scratching my head.
From Wikipedia:
“The New York City Police Department (NYPD or NYCPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, is the largest municipal police force in the United States. Established in 1845, the agency has primary responsibilities in law enforcement and investigation within the five boroughs of New York City. The NYPD is one of the oldest police departments established in the U.S., tracing its roots back to the seventeenth century.”
With that being said, you would think that largest and oldest Police Department in the United States would have a progressive Firearms Policy and Training. I hate to tell you that this is not true. While other Law Enforcement Agencies was making the transition to Semi-Auto Pistols in the 1980s, New York City kept their Revolvers until 1994. Now, let me be the first to tell you that a good Revolver is a great weapon. However, in Police Work as a primary Service Weapon, it is dated.
To make matters worse, there was several cases of accidental discharges with the Revolvers, so the City of New York had all revolvers made Double Action Only with a 12lb Trigger Pull. For those not familiar with the term “Double Action Only” it means that it takes a long trigger squeeze for the Hammer to go to the rear and then forward. Adding too much weight to the Trigger can make accuracy suffer. You want your Police Officers to be accurate with their firearms if the need arises.
In the mid 1990s, High Capacity .9mm Semi-Auto Pistols was authorized for the Officers. Brands that were authorized were Sig Sauer, Smith & Wesson and Glock. The Smith & Wesson and Sig Sauer were Double Action Only with heavy Trigger Pulls. Since the Glock was considered to have a “Light” Trigger pull, NYPD got with Glock to change the Trigger Weight of all their pistols. Glock Developed what is known as a “New York Trigger” which increases the standard 5.5lb Trigger Pull to 11lbs. On a side note, Officers had to buy their own pistols from one of the three listed.
Flash Forward to yesterday to the article I was reading. NYPD is now ISSUING Glock 17 .9mm Pistols to new recruits. Any other Officer prior to this graduating Academy Class still has to purchase their own pistol. To make matters worse, these new issued pistol will have the harder trigger pull and have the high-capacity magazine reduced. Ok, wait a minute; I thought that was the whole thought process for Pistols. Get High Capacity pistols so that Officers can have armament that they are seeing criminals using on the streets.
In the article that I read, the following is a quote:
“The “New York” triggers used by rank and file NYPD officers that make it even more difficult for officers with poor marksmanship fundamentals to put shots on target, and most officers still have no training beyond shooting at stationary paper targets at extremely close range.”
We are losing too many Officers this year. Officers are getting ambushed, gunned down and losing their lives to protect us. Let’s give them the tools necessary to keep them as well as us safe. A City as big as New York should have a forward thinking firearms Policy and Standards, but it appears there is a shortcoming there. Hopefully the Officers can get this worked out.
Bobby Inman is retired from Law Enforcement after 21 years of Service. He owns Hammer Down Gun & Pawn located in Sheffield, Alabama. He has articles published in Law & Order Magazine, Police Marksman Magazine, Guns & Weapons for Law Enforcement Magazine as well as several published ebooks on Amazon as well as Nook (Barnes & Noble). He is owner of Poopiedog, an Animal Rescue Dachshund, who is his constant companion.
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