1st Law Enforcement Agency to carry GLOCK in the U.S.

[pointman1531]

Greetings!

I was curious and wanted to know if anyone here on Calguns can answer my question. I tried google to no avail. Kinda of a "history buff" and just wanted to know for sure.

Question: What was the first, if not, a few law enforcement agency to carry GLOCK in the U.S.when GLOCK pistols soon came into the market back in 1986?

I know that there were a lot of controversy and it was during the era when Beretta's, Sig Sauer's, S&W 3rd generation and 1911's were considered the norm. Circa a.k.a "Wonder Nine's".

Thanks for the information and if you could verify as opposed to "I think" or "I heard" kind of a statement, would be appreciated.

History Assignment...

[veeklog]

St. Paul MN

[cacop]

I remember Miami was one of the first, if not the first.

[AFlipbro]

Here's a weblink for Glock's 25th Anniversary article: http://www.tactical-life.com/online/...99s-le-legacy/
Mentioned both St. Paul MN & Miami, FL as both first US Large Cities to adopt Glock as STD Service Pistol.

[pointman1531]

Thanks for the responses folks!

[Bodei]

Remember back then when the media told everyone that "plastic" Glocks would be able to get through metal detectors?

[BigDogatPlay]

Question: What was the first, if not, a few law enforcement agency to carry GLOCK in the U.S.when GLOCK pistols soon came into the market back in 1986?

I know that there were a lot of controversy and it was during the era when Beretta's, Sig Sauer's, S&W 3rd generation and 1911's were considered the norm. Circa a.k.a "Wonder Nine's".

At the time of the introduction of Glock into American law enforcement, the revolver was the norm... S&W, Colt and Ruger in .38 and / or .357.

In addition to the agencies mentioned above, NYPD first started deploying them to brass and special units in 1988, and moving to department wide adoption in the early 1990's. Once NYPD went Glock, much of the nation was bound to follow.

The rise of Glock actually pre-dates the 3rd Generation of S&W autos by two years. The Gen 3 guns started hitting the street in 1988. There were forward thinking agencies back then (Illinois State Police, Las Vegas Metro, Riverside and Sunnyvale PD among them) which were early adopters of earlier generations of S&W autos.

There were a few agencies which adopted 1911's, but those were largely deployed by individual officers who chose to use them back then... as they still are today to a degree. There was always a stigma of FUD around 1911s in some LEO / LEA circles back then.

The Sig was also not that widely adopted back then. The P220 had been a failure as the Browning Double Action, Sig's redesign into the P220 we know now in the early 80's led to individual officers buying them, and there were probably some agency adopters. The P226 wasn't first seen in the US until after the service pistol trials in 1984 which resulted in the Beretta M9 / Model 92.

Some of the LASD or LAPD vets here could tell you for sure when their agency's adopted the Beretta... and I know LAPD also authorized (still does?) S&W autos, but those were in the late 1980's as well, IIRC. The California Highway Patrol went away from revolvers to the S&W 4006 in the early 1990's.

The Glock 19 was, in my opinion, what drove American law enforcement into semi-autos. That their salesmen would come in and cut deeply discounted deals and brag that little or no conversion training was needed (proved patently false with occasional tragic results), both of which appealed to cost conscious buyers and CLEOs, was perhaps to be expected. But it worked, and is a big reason why the Glock is so ubiquitous today.

[retired]

Some of the LASD or LAPD vets here could tell you for sure when their agency's adopted the Beretta..

LASD began issuing the Beretta 92F in 1989. My station (Walnut/San Dimas at the time) was the largest station personnel wise and we did not receive ours until January of 1990.

IIRC, the dept. tested the Glock a couple of years ago, but decided not to permit its use either on or off duty. I was told by a range sgt. it was because the brass felt since it didn't have a decocker like the Beretta or any other external safety similar to it, it would not be safe to use.

They obviously forgot that revolvers had been used for about 140yrs. and they only required the pull of a trigger fire. If I'm not mistaken, a Glock only requires a pull of the trigger to fire also.

[Ron-Solo]

Retired,

The Glock was DQ'd because you have to pull the trigger to disassemble it. The Smith M&P 9 is striker fire like the Glock with no external safety, but it disassembles differently.

I think I was issued by Beretta in '89 because I was an FTO at the time.

[copter976]

I worked with a guy who carried one of the original Glocks (a 17 I think it was) in late 1982 or early 1983.

[TrailerparkTrash]

Remember back then when the media told everyone that "plastic" Glocks would be able to get through metal detectors?

You mean they can't???? Why didn't anyone tell me????

[KevH]

My own department issued Colt Series 70 Government Models throughout the 1970's until a certain supervisor decided they were too dangerous after he AD'ed. They then issued (and mandated the carry of) the S&W 659 throught the 1980's and early 1990's slowly transitioning to the 5906 (once the 659 was introduced guys had to give up their revolvers as well, most of which were S&W 25-2 and 25-5's).

Glocks were put on a list of approved personaly owned firearms in the late 90's along with Beretta, SIG and H&K.

We "upgraded" to the SW99 (one of the worst guns ever inflicted on LE) in 2000. Only a small handful of people actually carried them after the host of malfunctions and issues we had.

The Colt (and other 1911 variants) were re-introduced with SWAT first (early 2000's) and then department wide in 2007. We also switched to the S&W M&P (great little gun) for general issue in 2007.

As of right now our department is probably around 40% 1911, 35% M&P, 20% Glock with the other 5% being the remaining SIGs and H&K's (the last 3rd Gen S&W was a 4506-1 that an officer stopped carrying in 2010 when he switched to a Glock 21).