A few years ago, October of 1971, I was hired by the Prineville Police Department to be a police officer. I was issued my duty gear and told that some of it would need minor repairs. My first inkling that some repairs would be needed, sooner than later, was when I placed my handcuffs into their case. The cuffs fell out the bottom of the case and onto the ground. The weapon I was issued was a model 10 Smith & Wesson 38 with a five and a half inch barrel. The holster was a low ride holster and was made for a revolver with a 4 inch barrel. When I placed the issued revolver in the holster it would fall out because the retaining strap wasn’t long enough to go over the revolver. I couldn’t cut the bottom out of the holster because the chief called that destruction of city property, and besides the front sight would have hung up in the hole in the event of a quick draw, whatever that was.

I took the revolver and issued leather to a local shoe repairman. He smiled and sewed up the cuff case and added a longer strap to the holster. When the revolver was strapped in, it stayed in the holster, but a lot of the gun was hanging out the top of the thing instead of being seated into the holster. The holster was a low ride thing that carried six rounds of ammunition at its top in loops at belt level. The holster also had a swivel and snap. When the snap was fastened the gun stayed locked down to your side. However, it had to be unsnapped to allow me to sit in a car. When I ran, the snap came undone and the gun and holster spun on the swivel and smacked me in the ribs. I learned to run holding onto my gun.

The ammunition that was issued was interesting. I was issued an exact amount of ammunition, 12 rounds for the belt and 6 rounds for the gun. The rounds looked pretty neat to me. I had never been around handguns enough to know what real ammunition for police work should look like. I had been issued 148 grain, full wadcutter, rounds. The rounds are made to travel at a fairly low velocity. They are designed for target practice, shooting holes in paper, and I doubt if they would have penetrated much else. When I figured that out, which took a couple weeks, I asked for different ammunition. A person who was a jail inmate pointed out the flaws of my issued ammunition to me. I was told if I didn’t like what was issued I had to purchase my own, so I did.

The FBI came around a couple times of year and taught regional firearm classes. I had been working for Prineville Police Department for almost a year when I got to the range for the first time, and I had to qualify. I don’t remember if I qualified or if there was any penalty for not qualifying. I do recall the firearm instructor was watching me closely and then he gave me a lecture about how to look down the barrel of a revolver and what a sight pattern was and how to use it. I told him I was doing all of that. He told me I wasn’t and took my trusty revolver from me and he was going to show me how to shoot. He fired 6 rounds and didn’t hit the target. We were at about 15 yards away from the target and it was 3 foot by 4 foot. I had been doing better than that. He took my gun and got a shovel. He dug a hole and threw the gun in the hole and started to bury my weapon. I rescued the revolver and told him that it was all I had and that at least it looked scary and I could throw it at people. He relented and let me have the gun back, but cautioned me about shooting it in public because he didn’t want me to hit some innocent person a block away in the wrong direction. He must have chewed on the chief because I was issued a brand new weapon a few weeks later.

Technology started changing and I purchased bullet pouches. Each pouch carried six rounds. They were made to dump the 6 rounds into your hand and it was faster to reload utilizing the pouches than the belt loops. I soon discovered they dumped all six rounds whenever I ran or got into a fight. Once the ammunition was on the ground I would have to play pick up my ammunition. Then came new pouches when speed loaders were developed. The speed loaders were made so you could place six rounds directly into the revolver’s cylinder. The only problem was if you were not careful the six rounds hit the cylinder and then the ground. I was sort of relieved to start carry a magazine weapon, about 20 years later, less dropping and fumbling.

I found a man who made me a belt, holster and handcuff case. The original belt I was issued was very well worn and was a single layer of leather. It allowed the holster to slide around and was hard on my waist because its edges cut and dug as it swiveled. The holster was a high rise model that allowed me to lock the weapon down with my forearm, for retention purposes. A suspect took my revolver out of that holster when I was fighting with him, and a woman handed me my gun. Another time, after I fought with and handcuffed a man, his wife pointed out my gun, she had placed it on a table. I decided there had to be a better holster. First I purchased a clam shell type holster, and then purchased various holsters made so a weapon had to be extracted a certain way. My last holster actually had a hidden button. I purchased all of my leather, starting in Prineville and ending in Bend.

Uniforms changed to. The worst hat I had was in Prineville. It was a powder blue cowboy hat. It fit the community, but every drunk in the county had a goal and that was to knock my hat off. I got into it with the town toughs one night. To make things even I threw my hat down and stomped on it before the fight started, and then cleaned house . They were moody about me stomping my own hat. I also bought my own handcuffs.

I had my first pursuit in a car and then on foot when I had been on the job for about a week. I finally caught the guy and handcuffed him and took him to the station. At the station I had to call a state trooper in. Heck I didn’t know it took a special key to unlock handcuffs, and I hadn’t been issued one. When I left Prineville and went to Bend I had all of my leather and two pair of handcuffs. I had to purchase my own gun for Bend and carried it for about six months before they issued me one.

Now I watch agencies issue all of that nice equipment. Most of them are issued nylon gear and don’t have a clue that leather gear is still made. My oldest son was issued leather gear while my youngest was issued all nylon gear. I wonder if the new officers really know what they missed out on in this age of technology.