Police Appreciation Thread

[digi-shots]

I thought I'd start a "Police Appreciation" thread.

Anything goes here... the good guys, the guys (and gals) with the white hats, LEO's, Military Police, Private Eyes, Armed Security Guards... I think you have the idea.

If you don't have one that letters to the PD or one that was a personal weapon, that's fine... feel free to pose your guns with badges or accessories.

And thanks to all of you who have served!

Since this is for S&W's from 1896 to 1961, I think I'll start with an early one:

S&W .32 HE, shipped to the Jersey City PD in September of 1899. These little I-frame .32's were Smith & Wesson's first solid frame revolver with a swing-out cylinder. It was also the first S&W Hand Ejector to be purchased by a major police department.

[Absalom]

Originally Posted by digi-shots

S&W .32 HE, shipped to the Jersey City PD in September of 1899. These little I-frame .32's were Smith & Wesson's first solid frame revolver with a swing-out cylinder. It was also the first S&W Hand Ejector to be purchases by a major police department.

That is a nice one! Jersey City HE's in good condition are as rarely found as the contemporary "Roosevelt Colts", the New Police introduced at about the same time to the NYC police by TR.

Speaking of NYC, here's a Model 10-6, lettered to the New York City Police Equipment Bureau in 1968.

[quinn]

This purchase was the result of a furniture store armed robbery which turned into a shootout... the 38's 'bounced off the escape car". Shown with a HPD badge of the day, a vintage come along "The Claw" and a vintage black jack.

[lawandorder]

.............couple of different Sheriffs in Eastern Arkansas. Shipped to W.S. Darley & co. and ordered from them. The S. D. Myres holster is original used with the revolver, as is the badge.

[824tsv]

.38 M&P Target.
This one was shipped in May 1931 to a hardware store (Leaside Hardware and Dry Goods) in Toronto, Ontario. Presented to the Officer by the Chief of Police whose rank back then was a Brigadier General. T.P.F. stands for Toronto Police Force. I'm very proud to be the current custodian of this revolver and a retired member of the same organization.

[delta-419]

This is my uncle, Sgt. Glover Sorrey, Alexandria, LA PD (1930s-1950s) He was the man who taught a little kid (me) to hunt and shoot. He gave me memories for a lifetime.

[turnerriver]

These two Myres holsters belonged to the SAC of the Houston FBI office.

A good friend of mine bought this Combat Magnum from a Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent, I don't know if he carried it or confiscated it, I do know it was reblued at the factory.

That's as close as I can get- I have a Colt Officers Model with MPD 1 stamped on the butt that was supposedly presented to the chief of the Miami Police Department as a result of a large order but I didn't think I should push my luck by putting a photo of a Colt here. I'm pushing my luck already.
Regards,
turnerriver

[WCCPHD]

Issued sidearm of the Chief of Police of Greensboro, NC (given to me by a relative of his former secretary) M&P



Per information I received this was owned/carried by a Deputy Sheriff in Butte, Montana. Registered Magnum REG-2269





Carried as a primary/backup gun by me for ten years, Model 342ti



Diplomatic Security Service, Model 19-5



Model 66-1, Issued to the Elected Sheriff of Caldwell County NC. (I carried a similar gun as a new agent)



My second issued revolver: Model 66-2 (Issued in 1983)



My third, and last, issued revolver, Model 13 (issued in 1985)





Model 27-2, Connecticut Law Enforcement gun (refinished by S&W)



Current personally owned-agency approved off duty weapons/LEOSA carry revolvers:

Model 325 Nightguard



Model 25-2 "Jovino" .45 ACP





Un-carried, un-issued, commemorative. NC State Highway Patrol 50th Anniversary Commemorative, Model 29-2







Updated with some new additions:

Florida Highway Patrol Model 27-2



(Thanks to crsides for this one)

More personally owned-agency approved off duty weapons/LEOSA carry revolvers (replaced the 325 and 25):

Model 629-3 Carry Comp Lew Horton



629-6 Carry Comp Camfour



Model 940

[Old cop]

I began my career in 1968 w/a 4" Colt .38, then a 4" S&W Model 10 round butt, 4", Model 15, Colt Detective Special, stainless 4" S&W .38, 2" stainless .38, Glock 19 and finally Glock 23. All were agency weapons. The only personal weapon I carried was my Model 38 flat latch carried as a back up to the Model 15. The Glock 23 was retired w/me in '97 and sits in the safe at home, but makes it to the range pretty often. The Model 38 is still carried and shot on a regular basis.

[policerevolvercollector]

Here is Jersey City NJ JCP No. 148 & Newark (NJ) Police No. 249:

[Toyman]

A Kansas City Registered Magnum shipped in 1939


A 3 1/2 inch Registered Magnum shipped to a F.B.I. agent in 1936 blued was returned to S&W in 1948 to be nickel plated.

[Absalom]

While we're at it, a few more classics to appreciate:

S&W Model 36, NYPD 1959
Colt Detective Special, Pennsylvania State Police 1961

The archetypical .38 Spl. snubbies.

[Stu1205]

This is not a gun, but I sell these at gun shows and give them out
for free to LEOs I see working the shows and other times I encounter them.
Just a way of showing my appreciation.

Thank you for all that you do for us. Stay safe.

Best Regards,

Stu

[digi-shots]

From time to time, I come across interesting "pistol" photos...

This might have been posted before, but for those of you who haven't seen it, here's a vintage photo of the "Miami Police Pistol Team". I'm not sure of the date or the exact model they're using.

[Toyman]

From a book about LAPD showing hand gun , shotgun and rifle.

[Toyman]

From Des Moines Register Des Moines PD practicing at Camp Dodge.

[jmace57]

Went to the City of Amsterdam (NY) police department in July, 1936

(HBH and sight were changed afterwards)

[Club Gun Fan]

Linda
Here is a picture I posted of an FBI firing line. I believe these to be all Registered Magnums. I have a few police guns I'll post later.

[digi-shots]

There's some great pics here! Keep 'em coming!

Don, I can't believe the stance on those G-Men !

Here's another "Miami" pic... dated 1934. Some of the faces look like the officers in the other photo. Turnerriver, this is from your neck of the woods

[410bore]

Pre War 38/44 Outdoorsman with King enhancements and Ropers. Shipped on May 7, 1936 to Captain D. W. Taylor, New York Central Railroad, Columbus, Ohio. Mr. Taylor was Captain of the RR Police. Apologies for the dark pictures.

[Club Gun Fan]

Here are some more pictures. Here is Milton Walsh's MSP id along with his Smith & Wesson id. The next picture is the backstrap of a Model 36 marked MASS STATE POLICE. The last picture is of the twentieth K-22 made. It was presented in Jan 1931 by Victor Wesson to Joseph Gaudreau, a Springfield Ma police officer. He was involved in a shooting with armed thugs.

[stmry]

Great photos.....have times changed.

[bengal fan]

According to the documents provided from the SWHF this Outdoorsman shipped to the Chief of Police Joseph P. Dean of the Foxborough Police Department on September 19, 1933.

[Toyman]

Motorcycle officers Cedar Rapids, Iowa PD 1934

[j38]

Here's another KCPD RM #5159 shipped in September 1939. While I have posted pictures of this gun before, it now wears grips from another gun in the same shipment restored by Forum member dotdsd334. It still shoots like a dream and gets out for exercise a couple of times a year.

Jerry

[crsides]

Couple of police agency issued guns I have picked up, two in this past yr.

Houston PD marked on backstrap HPD 38, a W&K 3rd model 44 shipped 1931. I will check but seems to be from same shipment as Randy's (Quinn) posted above.


Austin Police Dept issued 27-2 3 1/2" nickel marked APD 261 on left side under cylinder window. Wearing KB ropers and AW Brill holster.

Charlie

[Absalom]

Here is one of my mystery guns.

Let's salute Officer P.B. Green of the M.P.D., whoever he may have been and wherever that may be.

The year is 1923. I bought the gun out of Reno, NV. I have no idea where M. is; neither did the seller. Maybe when I get the letter, I'll find out. If it doesn't letter to his department (unlikely, since the engraving is clearly privately done, so it was probably not an issued gun), perhaps it will at least letter to a hardware store in a town starting with the letter M. One can always hope.

[Old TexMex]

Indiana State Penitentiary


The beautiful blue shows better in this pic:

[digi-shots]

Great photos... keep 'em coming!

This one is inscribed on the side plate: "John W. Jerdon", who was a sergeant with the Philadelphia Police Dept.

It was shipped to a distributor in Philadelphia in April 1924... right at the beginning of Prohibition (1920-1933).

[old bear]

digi-shots, thanks for starting a great thread!!


I've got one. It started life, about 1939, as a 5" 38/44 and was cut-down when the owner went to the slick clothes division.
It now has a set of high bark stag grips by Patrick.

[crsides]

Originally Posted by old bear

digi-shots, thanks for starting a great thread!!


I've got one. It started life, about 1939, as a 5" 38/44 and was cut-down when the owner went to the slick clothes division.
It now has wears a set of high bark stag grips by Patrick.

I like the looks of that short bbl.

Charlie

[rwsmith]

Anybody that NEEDS a firearm for their job gets kudos from me. Any job has some chance of danger from another person, but to have a job where you are likely to need a gun is something else.

[quinn]

]I'll throw another couple in. This has been seen before: A pair of Registered Magnums. The blue is a 5.5" shipped to Henry Milczarek at the Galveston, TX, PD.
The nickel 4" was shipped to FBI agent Arlin Jones at the Pittsburg, PA office.

[heysox]

This one is a bit more modern than some of the beautiful wheel guns posted above. I carried this 64 for many years until we switched to Glock 17s.



Off duty, a nickel 36. I looked for a model 60 but they were as rare as handgun permits in Maryland back in the early 70's.

[Old TexMex]

Originally Posted by crsides

I like the looks of that short bbl.

Charlie

Very Dick Tracy, isn't it

[Cyrano]

Linda: I'm very interested in the whistle shown in your post # 29. Does it have any markings? My father carried the one shown during WW I. He was a corporal, a Lewis Gun squad leader, and needed to signal above the roar of battle. This one can be heard for a a quarter mile in the quiet of the country; when I was a boy it summoned me home when dinner was ready and I was out in the woods. It's marked J. Hudson & Co Birmingham, (England, as he was with the British Army), 1916, and there's a broad arrow stamp on the leather.

[jsfricks]

This one shipped December 30, 1938 to Chief C. W. Smith of the Morgantown, WV Police Dept. It shipped with the humpback hammer. It has a lot of holster wear and the grips were obviously replaced later in life.


Picture of Chief C.W. "Clete" Smith, Chief of Police, Morgantown, WV 1922-1948
I wish I could nail this down as his gun, but who knows. Would the Chief order his with a Humpback hammer? Possibly.

[Absalom]

Originally Posted by jsfricks

This one shipped December 30, 1938 to Chief C. W. Smith of the Morgantown, WV Police Dept. It shipped with the humpback hammer. It has a lot of holster wear and the grips were obviously replaced later in life.

This is not directly related to your gun, but when I read your post, I remembered this historic photo which I recently came across and snipped while looking for pictures of early lawmen.
It is captioned:

"Sheriff's Deputy, Morgantown, West Virginia, 1935. Gelatin silver print 8" × 10" Library of Congress, Bank of America Collection"

[digi-shots]

Originally Posted by Cyrano

Linda: I'm very interested in the whistle shown in your post # 29. Does it have any markings? My father carried the one shown during WW I. He was a corporal, a Lewis Gun squad leader, and needed to signal above the roar of battle. This one can be heard for a a quarter mile in the quiet of the country; when I was a boy it summoned me home when dinner was ready and I was out in the woods. It's marked J. Hudson & Co Birmingham, (England, as he was with the British Army), 1916, and there's a broad arrow stamp on the leather.

Cyrano,

You've got a good eye! Mine is very similar to yours... stamped "England" and also "John Jovino, Police Equipment, NY". Now all I need is a "Jovino" gun!

[1blindref]

Most here have probably seen my cop guns already, but I'll show them again anyway

This 4.5" Registered Magnum #3270 shipped to Captain Ed Blue of the Kentucky Highway Patrol November 18, 1937. Thanks to the SWHF, I learned that it was ordered for use in their police school.

















This nickel 38-44 Heavy Duty shipped to the Tonawanda Township PD June 4, 1930









This 38-44 Heavy Duty shipped to the Pennsylvania State Police July 11, 1934. Thanks again to the SWHF for having scanned these documents.













This 38-44 Heavy Duty shipped to the Beloit WI PD on December 28, 1939











This 4" 38-44 Heavy Duty shipped to the Sandusky Ohio PD April 4, 1940







1940 Sandusky PD




Last but certainly not least is this 5" Colt Official Police that shipped to the Philadelphia PD in 1949. This gun was my father-in-law's first duty weapon which he gave to me for Christmas about 10 years ago. Sadly he passed away 4 years ago.

[quinn]

Discovered another that I almost forgot: 38-44 HD shipped to the King County (Seattle, WA) Sheriff's Department April, 1935, following

the death of a deputy amidst the brutal Longshoreman's strike. Badge is contemporary to the gun, cuffs are same period Peerless.

[digi-shots]

Here's a Victory model that was originally shipped to the US Navy, Oakland, CA in October 1943. It was later used for CIVIL DEFENSE purposes.
The marking is similar to others I've seen, including the one shown in Charlie Pate's book, "U.S. Handguns of WWII" on page 148 which was issued to the Tacoma (Washington) Police Department.

The armband shown is of the period and was used by Air Raid Wardens.

[Absalom]

Even though this is not a Smith & Wesson, I'm going to slip it in here anyways. Some of you have probably seen this; I've posted it in an older NYPD thread before.

This Colt Police Positive was the property of Officer William L. Kavanagh of the New York City Police Department. I know this because he not only had his shield number stamped on the butt, as required, but also his name engraved on the side plate.

The gun shipped to the Audley company (of holster fame) in 1915, at which time its place of business was 8 Centre Market Place, a side street running along the back side of the old NY police headquarters at 240 Centre Street. A lot of police supply and gun stores resided there at one time, including Jovino and Herold.

Assuming Officer Kavanagh likely took possession of the gun sometime in early 1916, it is reasonable to assume that it patrolled some part of New York City all through Prohibition and the Roaring 20's. Now that's the kind of historical baggage I like on my collectibles.

The last reference I found to Kavanagh was as a detective in 1936.

[digi-shots]

I've posted these in others threads quite a while ago. This little Terrier is not marked in any way, but many of these early snub noses were used as back-ups.
It was shipped on October 9, 1951 to Charles Greenblatt Co., NYC, one of the larger S&W Dealers from the late 1940's to 1980's. They were located across the street from the NYC Police Headquarters.



The holster is stamped on the back: "LAVA, Inc., Police Equipment, NYC.

Frank Lava, Gunsmith & Revolvers was also located across the street from the NYC Police Headquarters.
Here are a couple of pics of the store in 1937:

[Absalom]

Originally Posted by digi-shots

The holster is stamped on the back: "LAVA, Inc., Police Equipment, NYC.

Frank Lava, Gunsmith & Revolvers was also located across the street from the NYC Police Headquarters.
Here are a couple of pics of the store in 1937:

Yep, that's also Centre Market Place. The big building in the background in the first photo is the police HQ. It's now luxury condos, but also a historic landmark.

Lava was in #6, Herold's shop in #7, Audley in #8, although at different, sometimes overlapping times. Frank Audley died in 1916, and his business and patents went to Folsom on Broadway.

I think Greenblatt's business was also in that street for a while, although he later moved elsewhere, as did Jovino.

[Toyman]

Colt New Service 4 inch .38 special rack #295 on butt applied by Colt before shipping, Shipped 1942 to Texas Dept. of Public Safety.

[Absalom]

Originally Posted by Toyman

Colt New Service 4 inch .38 special rack #295 on butt applied by Colt before shipping, Shipped 1943 to Texas Dept. of Public Safety.

That's a very interesting one. You very rarely see the New Service in .38 Special to begin with. Production of the New Service was pretty much petering out by the late 1930s, and by 1943, the limited amount of civilian police orders were mostly filled with the Commando or (uncommonly) Official Police. How many were in that order? (Based on what you know, I assume you lettered it.)

[Toyman]

Colt Archives advised 40 guns ordered through Belknap Hardware Louisville. KY. The guns were shipped March 24, 1942 with rack numbers 287 to 326 applied at the factory.
I posted from memory as to ship date and I corrected original post to reflect actual ship date.

[policerevolvercollector]

This .38 Spl. New Service went to the Border Patrol in Tucson AZ in 1941:





Just to mix it up a little, here's a Webley R.I.C. No.1 in .450 issued by the Natal Mounted Police



Since this is the S&W Forum, this 29-2 was carried by Louisville KY PD in 1973:




Best,
Charles

[LOBO]

This Smith & Wesson model 49 no dash, in .38 special, once belonged to Sheriff James Lloyd Holt. Holt was the Sheriff of Washington County Oklahoma for seven consecutive two year terms. He was in Office from 1961-1974.

I was fortunate to find a gentleman who had been a Deputy during Holt’s entire time as Sheriff. When asked about the gun, he thought that it had been presented to Holt after winning one of his Sheriffs elections. He said that the Sheriff was highly respected, and extremely well liked by his community as well as his peers. It was said that he had a certain “presence” about him, and that folks were always on their best behavior when he was around. Holt was known for wearing his cowboy hat, white shirt, and khaki pants.

Prior to becoming an Officer of the law, Holt had been a rancher. The Crawford Holt Ranch, 540 acres off the Nowata Road, was created in 1942-45 by HGC & JLH to grow foodstuffs during World War II. It was sold in 1957.

The Washington County Oklahoma Sheriff’s Department was kind enough to provide me with this picture. It was taken in the 1960's when he was Sheriff of Washington Co., Oklahoma.




The Bartlesville-Washington County Oklahoma museum kindly provided me with the following pictures,












I found this picture of the Sheriffs badge where it had sold on Ebay about two years ago. I sure would love to find it one day. If anyone has any leads or information on the badge please let me know. I would also like to obtain a shoulder patch from Sheriff Holts period in office.




The Sheriff’s gun…..












Here is a badge I purchased a few months ago, although I don't know if it is from the same time frame as when Sheriff Holt was in Office.




If anyone has any leads on the badge, or even a Washington County Oklahoma Sheriff’s Department patch I would be much obliged for the information.