Since the profession was created, the service weapon or pistol has always been one of the most important tools a police officer can carry. While no officer ever wants to have to fire their gun in a real situation, there is a real possibility that they will be forced to. That’s why if you need to rely on it in that “oh shit” moment, you should make sure it’s properly outfitted.
Extra Ammo
If you take any advice from this post, carry extra ammunition with you. I get that your service has issued a couple high-capacity magazines but you should get more. Carry 2-3 duty magazines on your persons, have another 2-3 in your go bag. Also if you have a patrol rifle (hopefully you do), carry at least one duty magazine for it on your person and have 4 more in your go bag. Thank me later.
Gun Cleaning Kit
You do clean your gun right officer? A must have and can be really simple. You really need gun solvent, cleaning rods, rod accessories, cleaning patches and gun oil. There is no reason to not have these items in a kit of your own and of course make sure you actually use it to clean your gun!
Night Sights
It is incredibly shocking that there are services that issue service weapons with no night sights in today’s time. If your service has not supplied night sights for you, go out and get them. It is estimated that 47% of officer involved shootings occur at night. Then factor how many shootings occur in dark places such as buildings with no lights on. Do you really not want to have some sort of advantage for the situation that you are 50% likely to face?
Red Dot Optics
Most services will not issue red dot optics for your service pistol and that’s fine especially with the budget cuts these days. However, red dot optics on a service pistol can be an excellent advantage for close or medium range targets. They won’t have magnification built in to them but they can be excellent tools especially for newer officers.
Gun Light
Like I said earlier, there is at least a 50% chance the shooting you are involved in will either happen at night or in the dark, having a gun light will offer a great advantage. It can also act as a safety measure to prevent a gun from being out of battery as many flashlights stick out past the tip of the muzzle. This prevents them from being put out of battery when pushed up too closely which often happens in close quarter combat situations.
Stay safe!
Ben