Drop Leg Holster Fail from the CA Sheriff's Department

Fitment Issues

As of this writing there is a massive manhunt for a former police officer who flipped out after he got fired. He has killed three people (so far) and wounded several more.

The LAPD and other law enforcement is, understandably, a little jumpy. In two separate incidents they have misidentified and shot up a vehicle. The passengers in one vehicle were uninjured, but both passengers were hit in the second vehicle, one critically. Oops. The women that were shot by mistake were out delivering papers in the wee hours of the morning. Note: The suspect is a heavyset black male. I think that the women that were shot were neither heavyset, nor black, nor male. But I think it was dark outside when the shooting took place.

This is a great example of the difference between cops and soldiers: cops are trained to write tickets, and soldiers are trained to kill people. (This is why the US armed forces make crappy police. But I digress.) When cops get in gunfights things tend not to go very well. They don't practice gunfighting all that much, and with good reason. The bulk of their job has nothing to do with armed conflict. They usually have teams that practice it, and that's why you have SWAT teams for pissant police departments all across the country: because men like to play dress up, and because shooting guns is way more fun than writing tickets and corralling drunks or refereeing the latest domestic dispute between the local meth fiends.

Brief aside: The comments scrolling on the LA Times coverage of the murders is astonishingly anti-LAPD. The Times coverage for the cops has been strongly pro-police, but this is not a popular view in the comments. This surprises me, because the suspects opening salvo in his war on police was to shoot two innocent people. Not exactly warrior code stuff.

Speaking of playing dress up, there are some good photos of the Sheriffs and others getting their battle gear on and doing what they do. Lots of different things stand out but the photo above highlights how NOT to wear a drop-leg holster. The guns are too low (especially at left), and the holster straps much too loose, as are the pants. If you want to know what's what, check the pro tips from Travis "Tight Pants are Tactical" Haley.* 

You might say, enh, he was in a hurry and didn't get a chance to square away his gear before he went out and started walking, blah blah something excuses something. No. Square your gear away before you go so that you can rely on it if you need it. Otherwise it might not work and then you're dead. And that sucks.




* No disrespect to Mr. Haley. He is a dangerous dude and I look forward to taking his classes some day. I will likely opt for looser pants and a belt mounted holster. You care.