[shekkian]

Just a question, can police officers carry their own personal weapons instead of what's issued to them?

[WilliamWallace1999]

Typically the answer is no. Reason being that the department has liability for the weapon under the rule of respondiat superior. That is, anything the officer does is also the departments fault.

I own and fire a wide variety of handguns and have to agree with all the posters that eloquently deride the training of these careless officers. The Glock may not be pretty, but it is durable, accurate, easy to work on, and reliable. I have pumped hundreds of rounds through mine (plural) and have never had serious problems except with crappy remanufactured ammo that was loaded to hot.

THE GLOCK ROCKS.

[dasboot]

It depends on the department's policy. My PD mandates all officers carry issued weapons; personal backups may be carried after approval by the armorer and range qualification, but the issued firearm MUST be carried.

We use a S&W semi-auto (665??) that doesn't fire when the clip is removed (although there is a way to reactivate the gun with a carefully placed pen in the receiver). This feature was deemed essential after one of our guys was shot and killed with his own revolver after a struggle with a crazy guy: if you are in a fight for possession, you can press the clip disengage button and let him take the piece, them beat him sensless with your stick.

[mod.30]

I have not come across any agency that let's their officers carry what they want to--at least uniformed officers.
Even in plainclothes, we had to qualify every 6 months with whatever we carried.