EXCLUSIVE Preview:
THE SEP/OCT 2006 ISSUE OF
AMERICAN COP IS EXPLOSIVE!

A HOLSTER FOR PROFESSIONALS
Has The Perfect Duty Holster Arrived?

LEARN TO LOVE THAT RUSH
Stress Inoculation By Competition.

KA-BAR TDI BACKUP KNIFE
When Fighting Gets Up Close And Personal.

SUICIDE-BY-COP
Adding Options To Deadly Force.

ACTIVE SHOOTER
Expanding On Lessons Learned.

OFF DUTY CARRY
Should It Be An Option?

Plus the special features below!

A SILK PURSE
Stainless Perfection For Glocks.
Gary Paul Johnston
Photos: Ichiro Nagata

If you’re a student of firearms, you continue to be amazed at the technical, design and production breakthroughs emerging at an ever-increasing pace. One of these is the use of plastic in firearms. The very idea of this seems a paradox, but the truth is, plastic is king — or is it?

When the Glock 17 first rocked the firearms industry nearly 25 years ago, a friend of mine, Reiner Ruhnke, a German polican Expe officer in what was then West Berlin wrote me as follows: “I have fired this new Glock pistol — ugly, but works. Remember, we had it first.” The last words of this were a quip Rainer threw at me on a regular basis. You know, the “German stuff is better” thing. What’s more, he was almost always right — almost.

The Significance Of S.H.I.T.T.

Perhaps the most gratifying thing a police supervisor can hear is one of his officers telling another, “Yeah, the sarge really has his shit together,” or any of those other scatological allusions which convey the message that you are a master of your craft — and your troops recognize and respect it. How many times have you heard that statement applied to anyone during your career? Pretty rare, isn’t it?

The best thing about wearing three stripes is leading people you respect, and having them respect you. The best way to achieve that is to constantly strive for greater knowledge and proficiency yourself and then to religiously pass it on. It’s a fundamental function of leadership — tough to make time for between paper-pushing and jumping to react to emergent situations — but the difference between a cookie-cutter “standard sergeant” and a real supervisor/mentor lies in delivering more than what’s required, and doing it in an intelligent and reasoned fashion.

I rely on formulae and methodology to lend some structure and sanity to the sergeant’s role. One of the most successful was one I called S.H.I.T.T. Whatever you call that block of time you have with your troops — line-up, squad briefing, team conference, whatever — you can use S.H.I.T.T. to add substance to the usual lifeless litany of beat assignments, department orders and infocrap. It stands for Skills, Humor, Information, Tactics and Technology.

John Morrison served in combat as a Marine sergeant, and retired as a senior lieutenant from the San Diego Police Department, having served there as Director of Training, Commanding Officer of SWAT and division executive officer. He has taught, written and lectured widely on training, tactics and leadership. Contact him at StreetLevelOne@yahoo.com.

SO WHAT DO WE PUT IN THE
“CAUSE OF ACCIDENT” BOX?

Officers investigating a singlecar accident on Highway 71 in Kansas City, Missouri were stumped for the appropriate entry as “cause of accident” in their report. Somehow, “Lost control while launching a logey” didn’t quite provide a full explanation.

Robin Doolin, 31, was driving along in traffic when she was overcome by the
need to expectorate — that is, to spit. Being well aware of the fact that wind tends to shift, sometimes blowin’ that window-fired mucous-missile right back in your face, she opened her door, leaned ‘way out, and fell right out on the road. Witnesses reported she hit the pavement, rolled, and then sprang back up running after her runaway ride. Unfortunately, she couldn’t catch up to it before it ran off the highway, down a slope, and sorta parked itself — hard. We don’t think her insurance is gonna cover it.

No One is Above the Law
Except, of Course, Members of Congress

For those of us on the job and working the streets, every day brings countless threats to our safety. Back at the office, an equal number of threats can endanger our careers from counter productive politically correct policies, to an illinformed media that has no hesitation calling an officer guilty until proven innocent. The reality of the job we do has little in common with the lives of members of Congress.

For instance, how many of you would still be on the job if you punched a city council member or state legislator as you rushed in to work? What would your career outlook be if you crashed your car into the police station at three AM and appeared drunk or intoxicated to observers? If you found yourself knee deep in an investigation for bribery, facing possible felony charges, would your Chief protest loudly if Congressional Investigators executed a court ordered search of your taxpayer provided office or patrol car?

EXPLOSIVE TIMES
Keep Your Eyes Open
Scott Anderson

It’s nearly impossible to go through an entire day without a newspaper in any major city detailing a new bombing somewhere in the world. The incident usually involves multiple fatalities and wounded — that’s just the nature of bombs. So far the vast majority occur on foreign soil. But, don’t get complacent, because that’s not going to remain the case. Even prior to September 11th, the FBI recognized the potential dangers and began gearing up local bomb squads. They’ve provided increased levels of training and some of the latest equipment. Police bomb squads are now at their highest ever level of training and expertise.

BONUS: Read this special feature from the Sep/Oct issue of American COP right here.

>>Click Here <<

Kimber Custom TLE II
Package Includes Kim-Pro Mags and a Model 55 Milt Sparks Holster

LAPD’s SWAT Team chose the Kimber Custom II after extensive testing and competition. They added only night sights and front strap checkering. To commemorate the selection, Kimber introduced the Custom TLE II .45 ACP. Other than markings, this pistol is an exact duplicate of the team’s gun. Like all Kimber pistols, the Custom TLE II features a match-grade barrel, chamber and trigger group, highride beavertail grip safety, beveled magazine well, and a lowered and flared ejection port. It comes with one standard magazine.

The one-piece match-grade barrel is machined from one piece of solid steel for both accuracy and long life. The sights are green Meprolight Tritium threedot night sights to aid in low-light engagements. The 30 lines-per-inch front strap checkering is aggressive enough to help the gun stick in your hand on recoil but not so aggressive as to scrape off hunks of hide.

One lucky reader will win all the goodies shown here!