Considering that most LEO's I see all seem to carry the ubiquitous Glocks, and the Military is still using Beretta's as far as I know, I was wondering how many Military & LEO's actually carry the pistol of their namesake, the M&P?

I think it's a shame that in the greatest country on the face of the earth for all things firearms related, with some of the finest manufacturers, makes, and models available anywhere, that most LEO's and our Military choose to carry sidearms that are either foreign made or foreign in origin.

From what I've read it seems the M&P series has undergone the severest of torture tests and came out with flying colors, so what gives? Couldn't our people use the manufacturing jobs?

Last I heard Detroit PD was carrying them. I remember reading somewhere that we sent a bunch to Iraq and/or Afghanistan for their police and/or military.

Try a google/bing search on police depts carrying the M&P, it came up with several.

__________________
Ban lunatics and criminals

I think MA state troopers are carrying M&P 45's

Colorado State Patrol carries the M&P .40

Lots of police, not in overall percentile but in increasing numbers. I can't speak for military.

huge numbers of police agencies carry M&P....many things factor in such as the bidding process for one

__________________
SWCA#2208
KK4EMO

Interesting responses. I've read that over 50% of LEO's in this country carry Glocks . At least they all do in my area. No Military in this country carries the M&P as far as I know.

It's good to know there are many LEO's carrying the Smiths.

Great... so they can shoot at us with our own American made guns and make them harder to find for those of us here who want one? Wonderful....

At least one federal agency authorizes personally owned. I think there are two departments in my area carrying them.

It proberbly comes down to price verses value. Many of the guns of the same caliber they are allowed to carry comes down to price and the budget they have to work with. Then their is the kickback issue that nobody wants to talk about. I recently read that 60% of law enforcement carry Glock. Is it a better weapon when carrying on your side? It does not matter. Trying to conceal is a different story. Glock is a very reliable piece, and parts are easily obtained.

While this link isn't comprehensive and a bit outdated it does shed some light on the topic.

LinkSmith and Wesson M&P Pistols Adopted by 276 Police Departments: Thousands of M&P9, M&P357, M&P40, and M&P45 Ordered by Atlanta Police, Colorado State Police, and Other Departments

I know the city police of Raleigh NC have been carrying the M&P 40 for few years.

Glock used to claim that 80% of LE used their pistols. They now seem to claim 60%.

S&W seems to issue a press release with larger agency purchases, and I have seen a whole bunch of those.

I think the M&P has made pretty good advances into the LE market, but clearly, Glock is still on top of that heap.

The M&P needs some things to be as desirable as the Glock for LE sales.

Among them are: Readily available sights of differing heights to easily adjust elevation, readily available armorer classes so that more people can learn about the pistol and its repair, readily available spare parts and magazines, removal of the "tampon" from the trigger return spring - the presence of a wad or whatever it is inside that spring to prevent that spring from breaking is a bad idea, especially when that spring WILL snap without the tampon, readily available armorer tools, offering of the pistol standard with three magazines like FN has been doing for several years, and like Glock is now doing in its Gen 4 pistols, readily available red handle, blue handle and other inert and Simunitions training models, seemingly persistent magazine drop and failure to fire issue which come up on a too often basis need to be solved once and for all.

I am sure there are other things that I am not thinking of, but the above will do for a start.

Its the common police gun here in ATX. I think if you were on the force before they came along you can still carry other guns like 1911's, but most of what I see are M&Ps. Not sure what caliber.

The police on the Oregon State campus carry M&P 40

Our local Sherriff Dept. issues the M&P .45 ACP.

Washington State Patrol and a lot of Corrections

__________________
NRA Certified Instructor

Inert weapons are produced by separate manufacturers and these are available-at least in the red gun variety, as are Simuntions.

Different height front sights are available from the factory.

The 'tampon' produces a trigger return spring that outlives that of the Glock. Exactly what is your issue with it? Does the existence offend some sensibility? It's a captured part of the spring and requires no effort on the users part.

We've had X00 M&Ps in service since early 2006 with no mag drop issues... or any other issues, thank you very much.

New Hampshire State police carry the full size M&P .45! George

Charlotte PD Also uses the M&P line...just asked a cop yesterday, and he loves it.

Milwaukee PD uses M&P 40s. They're getting all new ones to replace the old ones. They switched from Glock 22 about 4 - 5 years ago.

My son is a new Milwaukee Police Officer & was issued a brand new M&P 40. He has my old Glock 21 & 23 which he loves but feels after putting over 5000 rounds through the M&P at the academy it's a superior firearm.

The Milwaukee County Sheriffs Department still uses Glock 22 & 23.

Cincinnati PD carries full size M&P. Not sure of the caliber though.

__________________
They know we're in here now.

The contract secuity guards for the US Govt in the Detroit area carry M&P 40's.

M&P 40 are standard issue around this area too. Also weapon of choice. Glucks are becoming a thing of the past.

Detroit pd uses them

I am a little surprised to hear your response since you are well aware of the problems with the trigger return spring, having posted about it before. Your post, repeated as follows:

"The "tampon" is in there from the factory as a vibration damper. High volume testing indicates that the trigger return spring does, in fact, fail rapidly (~2500-3000 rounds) without it. . . . Since a new trigger return spring is less than $3, buy a new one."

Magic Cotton in the Trigger Return Spring

By way of additional explanation for my comments, when the SIGMA first came out, a well known writer, Frank James, I think, did a torture test, which included cooling the pistol by dunking. The M&P uses the same return spring system with the captured "tampon." The tampon got wet, disintegrated, and the spring broke within an alarmingly short time. Nowhere near the 2,500 to 3,000 rounds you mentioned in your earlier post.

An S&W representative, Ken Jorgensen I think, was present. No one knew the cause, assumed it was "one of those things," the spring was replaced and it broke again very shortly after another dunking. They then noticed the felt pad or insert (tampon) was gone again, and the lights went on.

This was written up in the article - back in the days when gun reviews actually were more than manufacturer press releases!

Since it was assumed that the weapon would not be "dunked" in normal circumstances, no apparent change was made to the design. That may be a good assumption with the SIGMA, but the M&P is specifically marketed to the military, where a weapon may find itself submerged for all sorts of reasons. Police, being civilians, do not put their pistols to the same challenges as do the military. Police problems with handguns are admittedly due more to neglect than hard use.

The "sensibility" it offends, if you want to call it that (I prefer to just call it a preference) is that no other serious military pistol in the world depends upon such a part (the tampon) to make sure coil springs don't break because the spring harmonics, without a felt pad, cause the spring to shatter at an unpredictable time rendering the pistol inoperable just when you need it most.

I am aware of the tendency of the Glock trigger spring to shatter, but that problem is completely eliminated by use of the New York trigger spring, which is a leaf spring instead of a coil spring.

The shattering of the S&W trigger spring is not the only problem with the tampon. If the tampon gets wet, it is like having a soaked sponge next to a steel part twenty-four/seven, and even if the tampon does not disintegrate and fall out, as it did when the SIGMA was tested, it will still destroy that spring by rust, which will happen very fast. Unlikely? I don't know as S&W does not report frequency or type of repair problems with its model, that being a trade secret and none of our business. S&W will not even acknowledge that there have been any failures with its internal lock, so I am not surprised if they do not disclose M&P trigger spring issues.

I do understand S&W has quietly addressed the problem of the tampon, not with a better spring so as not to require the tampon, but by giving agencies a "maintenance schedule" so that agency armorers replace that spring on a regular basis.

I just don't like that. Others may be able to live with it, but I don't like it. If you and your agency are happy, then fine. If folks are aware of a problem and choose to accept it and live with it, that is fine with me. I was merely trying to answer the questions posed by the original poster, and as big of a fan of S&W as I am, I assure you it is not easy to point out these issues, which some may consider non-issues. On the other hand, I will not ignore problems which are known and not, in my opinion, adequately addressed, especially in an item of personal safety equipment on which the user gambles his life.

I mean, I do not begrudge S&W for its M&P pistol line, but one measure of ANY gun company that markets a gun for self-defense, is how they address discovered problems. I have no issues with there being problems, just the failure to address discovered problems.

As to different height sights, factory reps have told me they are available, but if so they are pretty hard to get. Customer service people don't seem to know about them, have no idea which one to send you for the distance you need to move the group up or down and even if they did, the sights are exceedingly hard to replace, even with a sight pusher.

As to magazine drop issues, I am glad your agency has had no issues, but there have been many well documented issues with that problem, and it seems to be a big problem in .40 caliber Shields.

To the credit of S&W, they have apparently been quietly making evolutionary changes, attempting to address many of the user-identified problems, and that is a good thing.

I certainly do not mean to insult either you or your agency's pistols, however, you asked for some clarification, and I wanted to answer you.

I am sure that agency experience is different than individual experience, as I am sure that S&W goes out of its way with respect to agencies.

My agency requires a Glock even if we are willing to purchase our own. I think they are just too cheap to have our training unit go through an armorer's course for the M&P. I'm left handed and hate the Glock!

The Afghan National Police use the Sigma 9mm.

Thanks for the info. I go to Milwaukee often, and if I see an LEO I will try to check out the M&P's if I can.

Yeah, sounds like we paid for them too since the order came from the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command. Here is the link to the article:

S&W M&P9 Chosen for the "Sandbox"

__________________
Ban lunatics and criminals

Sigma Goes to War

My department requires us to purchase our own weapons. There is a mix of M&P, Glock, and 1911s.

Of the M&Ps, one officer carries a M&P45, the rest carry a 40. I am the only officer carrying an M&P9. I carry the 5 inch pro series with a TLR-1 light. I keep a M&P9c as my back-up. I put the APEX D/CAEK and Reset Assist in it. Gave it a better trigger than the Pro Series.

I know that Stamford, CT PD carries M&P 45's.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is transitioning to the M&P 9mm Current deputies have the choice of not going to the M&P if they so desire. Newly hired deputies will be issued the M&P.

Detroit PD switched to the FS 40 from the Glock a few years ago, but not without a ton of resistance. From what I heard, great efforts were made to sabotage the M&P so that the officers could turn them in and get their Glocks back. Crazy stuff like freezing them in blocks of ice (this is what I was told) but despite all the physical abuse the guns never malfunctioned or quit.

The M&P 40 is also used by the Macomb County Sheriff's Department, which is one of the 3 major counties in the Metro Detroit area.

My Dept (Dekalb Co., GA PD) switched from Beretta 92G to S&W M&P 40 about 2 years ago. I have been very happy with it.

"The 'tampon' produces a trigger return spring that outlives that of the Glock."

Love my smith wheelguns And been Glock armorer 15 years for 4 departments. Only seen one broken trigger spring and that was my well used 1st gen after i handmedowned it to my deputy son. Any figures to back this info?

Thanks for that Press Release link and confirmation that the S&W M&P9 has been issued to the Iraqi Military, by US Forces. This now authorises the M&P9 to be verified as a Class 1 weapon for the purposes of the SSAA Combined Services Discipline in Australia. All the Best, Mick Small OAM.

M&P 9 here. Everyone seems happy with them.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

M&P for my County Deputies here in Idaho.

__________________
CERAKOTE Svcs.
Class 01 FFL

I see lots of cops in mass carrying M&P's
FS .40s and .45s

Our county and 3 local PDs all joined together for a group buy of FS M&P 9s.
Local PD also issued Shield 9s to detectives.
State Troopers carry FS M&P 40s.

__________________
-jwk-
US Army '72-'95

My Victoria Police 3" Model 10 (an M&P except in name) trade-in arrived in the plain brown box from the new M&P that replaced it (or one of it's mates)

__________________
-jwk-
US Army '72-'95

i wonder what the percentages are now, i'm seeing more and more footage of police bodycam using m&p 2.0s


i think percentages now is like 40% glock, 60% m&p

You beat me to it. Watching Police Activity and Video Leak Police on YouTube I see quite a few M&Ps. Especially in California of all places.

I prefer my M&P 2.0's in 9mm and 45ACP to my Glock Gen 5 17 and Gem 4 21. Would love to get a M&P 10mm once I find some reloading components for it.

One of my favorite shops has been a revolving door for cadets in the Denver PD current academy all buying 9mm M&Ps-most with the red dot plate. I believe Colorado State Patrol has moved from .40 to 9 M&Ps. Lots of M&Ps being carried by the many departments in the Denver metro area.

Columbus Ohio is issued the M&P2.0 9mm

My agency had a list we could choose from. I carried my S&W M&P 45 ACP from 2008 until I retired in 2019. A great sidearm.

__________________
I am a sheep dog!
1601 (ret)

Yes, Victoria and South Australia Police Forces both use M&P's. The rest of the States in Australia use Glocks.

(We only have State Police and Federal Police in Australia).