do all cops treat their guns like crap?

well, where i work, we buy our own, and too be honest, most of us don't clean them. i personally clean mine once a week, i try to shoot it once a week as well, it never, ever stays in it's holster at home (none of my weapons do)..but they do tend to get beat up.


i gotta admit, my g21sf isn't looking any worse for wear, even after a few wrestling matches, door dings and holster withdraws, lol...
 
i realize most cops aren't gun nuts, but their(and my) lives may have to depend on that firearm functioning accurately and correctly.

if i was a cop, armed guard, etc... i would consider my sidearm as a peice of life support equipment.
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:rolleyes:

You should see how the military treats their boots and their weapons.
 
I agree this was probably a large turn in of pistols that were no longer being issued out. As a result, no one bothered to clean them up before being sold off.

That being said, sadly, it has been my experience that there are a significant number of officers who never inspect and clean their pistols. For those officers, the only involvement they have with the pistol is during mandatory training and qualification. Alot of these folks don't realize that you need to routinely clean, inspect and lube pistols even when you don't shoot them. Inspection and maintenance of magazines and ammunition is also necessary but many neglect that also. As a Sergeant, I conduct monthly inspections of my officer's pistols. Among the eight officers, only two are regular shooters due to SWAT duties. I have to stay on top of those two to keep their guns cleaned after shooting.

I do not not go to work with a dirty pistol. I'm too paranoid. I do everything in my power to convey that sentiment to the folks I supervise.
 
For what it's worth, if you're carried a 1911 cock-and-locked IWB, this can happen in about 20 minutes of walking. Whenever I carry under a shirt, the area in between the hammer and the firing pin gets full of lint and crap. That's just a day's worth of carry, mind you.
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Yeah, I kind of figured, that's why I was confident that the gun would work as intended. It would have taken a lot more than that unsightly lint and fiber to keep it from working.
 
Many years ago,(thirty), when I was on the job I took care of my piece because I owned it( S&W Model 19 ) , some guys took care of their Dept. issue, a lot didn't. I knew an old timer when he retired could not get his revolver out of his holster. Also all his belt ammo was cover with verdigris from the brass reacting with the leather. His last five years was on the rubber gun squad working in Police Court....I have to admit there were younger guys heading down the same road. I think todays young officers are better trained, in better condition, and maybe smarter. Though there is a big differnce between street smarts and book smarts:)
 
No, it's not any better today and maybe worse.

I an a firearms instructor for my small PD (6 full-time including Chief and another 8 part-time). Firearms policy is pretty lenient- you can carry basically anything you want excepting SA-only and Magnums, minimum duty gun caliber .38/9mm. Dept has some issue guns if you want them, a couple old 1st Gen G17 or some newer Beretta 92FS.

Most buy their own guns, with Glock of various calibers (9mm and .40) dominating. Other guns include 2 Glock 21 (one mine), one Sig P226, one S&W 3rd Gen 9mm (I can't remember what model # off the top of my head) and one old timer still carrying a S&W Model 66 revolver. Most at least keep their guns rust-free and free of the bigger chunks of debris, but that would be the extent of their efforts. The two guys currently carrying Dept issue guns (1 G17, 1 92FS) definately aren't gun guys and the condition of their guns shows this. I have never seen a Glock rust, but this Officer's G17 is showing some rust on the internals (what you can see for all the dirt and filth that hasn't been cleaned in far too long) from lack of care that borders on abuse. The one carrying the 92FS isn't much better, with rust spots on the barrel, trigger, slide stop, safety and takedown lever. The problem is, since they aren't gun guys, they just don't care at all. The gun is merely another tool that they have to wear on their belt when they work, and their qualification scores show it, too. They can't be bothered to maintain their guns or practice if the Dept won't pay them to.

The Chief is no better. With budget cuts, we qualify once a year. That's it, once a year. The Dept will not provide practice ammo, either, which means that even those who care to some extent do not go out and practice. There are only two or three of us who care enough to go out and practice at our own expense. Also, the Chief will not let us (myself and the other instructors) do anything about the lack of care to the weapons. Given this, what can you do? You can't make them care when no one else cares or lacks the will to make them care through disciplinary measures.

This is the way it is at our small Dept. I can only imagine what it is like at bigger Depts. Treating guns like this ought to be criminal!

Bub
 
Hirlau you are an effin riot! lol

So I have ran into policemen around 7-11's parks, what have you, and we talk and talk, some consider their gun a tool, which it is, it has the same value to them as their ticket holder. Most of then cops around here, they are just doing their job, i was talking to one, he had no idea what engine was in his Crown Vic, had no idea at all, most have no idea what frequency their radio is on, and most just swoosh a few swabs of the gun brush and the guns clean.
Is this a bad thing? NO. Why because we have no crime, due to police officers having no idea what the tools of their job are? wrong again, they have communication skills, that's all that matters when you are a police officer. Now, I would know what the tools are in my job are for, how they are designed, ect ect, but i know that the officers in my neighborhood, don't care, all they care about is the town and the people in it.
 
Do all cops treat their guns like crap? No. Do most? No. Do many? Maybe. Do some? Absolutely. At least that has been my observation.

So long as they are properly cleaned, lubed, and maintained the rest (largely cosmetics) doesn't matter anyway.

Which brings me to a this:

A friend of mine with some rather well maintained and infrequently shot safe queens was aghast at the appearance of my service pistol, with it's holster wear, scrapes and dings; an other wise well maintained pistol mind you. "Where's your new one?" "That IS my new one." "That's a shame." "Whatever..." A conversation to that effect. I shoot my beater better than he shoots his safe queens. I shoot his safe queens better than he shoots them, too, as it turns out. I imagine if mine were in a pile of excised firearms most interested in cosmetics would pass it over without picking it up. Hell, I probably would too if I were shopping for the closest to NIB I could find. But it would be a mistake. The moral, if any? Don't always judge a book by its cover.
 
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You should see how the military treats their boots and their weapons.
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been there, done that.

my gun was always cleaned as soon as the missions were over, or at least dusted off if there was no time for a good cleaning, and i made my team do the same.
 
been there, done that.
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I know the drill as well....I am active duty. The point I am making is that military as well as LE weapons, like boots, are used everyday and used like the tool that they are. This is why areas of parkerizing or bluing are worn away along edges...as well why dings and scratches should be found on any piece that comes out of the armory that isnt brand new.
 
if i was a cop, armed guard, etc... i would consider my sidearm as a peice of life support equipment.
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Most cops do too for the first couple years.

On a serious note, if all the weapons in that department looked like you describe then the Chief should be fired...............

In the day of the blue steel revolvers with wooden grips almost everybody’s weapon looked a little worse for wear. Exposed holsters have a tendency to bang into anything and everything you walk by, roll over or stand next to. Motor cops weapons vibrated in the holster so bad they needed reblueing every few years. Stainless steel and rubber grips solved a lot of those problems.
 
I always thought of both my issue mod 15 and personal backup mod 19 as my lifelines and took care of them especially in bad weather.
 
are you KIDDING

they have communication skills, that's all that matters when you are a police officer.
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They have what you say are "communication skills", but they don't know the ins and outs of their radios? Doesn't that qualify as a communication skill?

communications skills are not all that a police officer needs. if that were the case, they would not be carrying guns or driving in police interceptor crown vics. they'd ride around on bicycles and ask people to please drive more slowly as it is not safe to speed. Simply communicating only works on the decent part of society. The rough part of society demands that a possibility of force exists behind the communication. Police are there to protect.

If that's how your police force really is, I would be raising hell in city hall. You do realize your tax dollars go to supply these officers with things they don't even know how to use. Wouldn't you rather keep your money to buy your own guns and ammo, seeing as how YOU know how to use them?
 
All the cops I know carry Glocks, used to be Berettas but I don't recall the condition of those. Anyway, the guys that I know all have guns that look all but new, minus a little holster wear maybe.
 
I've seen a lot of off lease guns for sale, never a really dirty one, and I know this shop doesn't clean before they sell. I'm sure there are departments out there who are careless, or maybe the gun was stored in a poor condition until it was sold....

I did talk to a motorcycle cop who said he was having to clean his M&P constantly from all the dust during the dry season here.. poor guy
 
do all cops treat their guns like crap?

and not clean them too?
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Of course, each and every cop is an exact cookie cutter copy of every other cop and all conform to the same negative stereotypes that are based on each of our own limited impressions of them.

And we question why the leftists think so poorly of gun owners. :rolleyes:
 
Of course, each and every cop is an exact cookie cutter copy of every other cop and all conform to the same negative stereotypes that are based on each of our own limited impressions of them.

And we question why the leftists think so poorly of gun owners.
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Yeah, this is the reason I was reluctant to even reply to this thread. The thread title itself is ignorant, stereotypical, and designed to insipire hostility. It would be no different that going to a medicine forum and posting a thread titled, "Do all doctors get drunk before surgery?" :rolleyes:

Anyways, I'll give my own 2 cents for the benefit of the other posters. Cops are just like everyone else. There is nothing magic that happens when they put on the badge that makes them morph into a Delta Force Ninja or a donut guzzling slob. Poll 10 joe citizen gun shooters at the range and I'm sure 1 will clean his bore after every ten rounds, 3 will clean it when they get home, 4 will clean it before their next trip to the range, and 2 will clean the gun annually. :D

As a Sergeant, I conduct monthly inspections of my officer's pistols. Among the eight officers, only two are regular shooters due to SWAT duties. I have to stay on top of those two to keep their guns cleaned after shooting.
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I'll echo this. As a part-time SWAT guy this has been my experience as well. My department issues SWAT officers a second duty pistol to keep with their SWAT gear (which is often stored separate from the patrol gear). My way of thinking is they gave us the second gun so we would only have to clean them 1/2 as often. :D
 
I think most cops treat their guns like the rest of the equipment they carry - like tools. Their stuff is used, sometimes abused and maintained as best they can. I know in big cities & PD's they are really overworked. I don't think they neglect their gear on purpose it's just the priority it should be.
 
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