Felon-Seeking Pulse Radar Bullets - Brief Article

First, let's talk about what's not obsolete. The wheelgun hasn't been mothballed. It has merely transmogrified from a uniform service sidearm into the single most popular backup handgun. While reliable small autos like the baby Glocks, the Kahrs, the Kel-Tec and the Colt Pocket Nine are making inroads, the snubnose revolver will dominate the backup gun turf for the foreseeable future.

The shotgun isn't dead. The forward-thinking Burbank (Calif.) Police kept their 14" Mossberg pumps, loading them with tactical slugs at moderate velocity. The California Highway Patrol and San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department led the way with the best solution: the shotgun and the .223 rifle. In both agencies, this comprised the Remington 870 and the Ruger Mini-14.

While you can look for a lot more PDs to swap shotguns for rifles and carbines, the wave of the future may be stocking each vehicle with shotgun and compact auto rifle.

Looking at semiauto pistols, I expect to see more polymer frames. Look for more DA-only designs, getting lighter and smoother all the time. The rails moulded into the frames for white light and laser attachments -- pioneered by HK with the USP and later copied by Glock, Walther, S&W, et cetera -- will become hugely popular. Cops will find a place on their belt for the pouch that carries the light they can quickly attach to their service sidearms.

The time will come, I expect, when there will be more .381/.357 revolvers (in off-duty and backup roles) than there will be on-duty 9mm pistols. Look for the Parabellum chambering to be replaced with .40 S&W, .357 SIG and .45 ACP. Don't be surprised if the 9x21.5 that Smith & Wesson called the .356 TSW is, if not re-introduced, reinvented for a law enforcement world that is now more ready for it.

Before long, the interactive video training theater will be supplanted by "virtual reality" technology that duplicates a gunfight more vividly than anything yet.

Duty belts will get lighter still, and harnesses to better distribute their weight will become popular. The "duty belt suspenders" pioneered by Orca have already been introduced to a wider market by Michaels of Oregon.

Look for even more advances in light weight, water-shedding, air-sole support technology in police footwear. Don't be surprised if some forward-thinking departments realize that the "shorts and polo shirt" uniform of the currently popular bicycle patrols could work equally well for the entire uniformed division in appropriate weather.

Armor will get thinner and lighter. We will see vests that can stop high powered rifle bullets, yet be comfortable and concealable for daily wear.

We will see notebook computers become standard issue equipment. If we in police work are wise, especially in the wake of the Columbine tragedy, we will see floorplans for major buildings put into computer banks accessible to mobile patrol car terminals.

Supervisors will have small on-board copiers in their vehicles to issue blueprints to all responding officers at high-risk emergency scenes. According to police computer expert Tim Dees, that capability already exists.

We have come a long way. But we are still moving forward. And, with so much old-fashioned stasis already overcome, we have more forward momentum than ever.

COPYRIGHT 2000 Publishers' Development Corporation
COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group