I'm new here so I'll introduce myself and relate something that happened this week.
In 1986 I was a young police officer with a wife, three kids and all the expenses that go with it on a beat cop's salary. A couple older officers with connections talked Smith & Wesson and a police supply company into making commemorative revolvers available for us to buy, a Model 19 and/or a Model 66. For nearly six months, there was a pair of them, already engraved sitting on the counter of the Court Detail office where we checked in for court. I was working in a very active part of town so consequently I made a lot of court appearances. Every time I checked in I looked at those revolvers and daydreamed. I was carrying my city issue Model 10 and was so indigent I almost had to finance the Tyler T grip on it. I don't remember the price of the guns but it was absolutely out of the question given my family responsibilities.
When the guns came in I wished I had somehow found a way to get one but knew that I'd done the right thing. Years, then decades, went by; I always kept my ear to the ground but no one wanted to part with one of the only eighty revolvers to commemorate our department. Fast forward to the other day; I contacted one of the two guys I used to work with who arranged them way back when. We shot the breeze and then I asked if he knew of any for sale. Low and behold he was working with a fellow retired DPD officer that I had taught in the academy. He had bought the gun from a collector, unfired and in the box. Teaching at the academy was one of the greatest experiences of my life, I learned as much as they did. Consequently, I have a connection to all those officers who went though during my tenure.
I called my former student and we discussed how things were going for him and the possible sale of the gun. A very long story short, he sold it to me and now I have what I dreamed of as a young man. I think this is better than if I would have bought it in the beginning. Surely some emergency would have come up and I would have sold it when we didn't have much. This way, not only did I wind up with it, but I got it from someone who I have a connection with. I've never had a firearm in my life that I didn't shoot; until now. Upon my death it will be donated to our police history foundation/museum so it will be where it belongs.
Our FOP lodge is named for Capt. John C, Post who was murdered in a shootout in 1927. He was a cop's cop and was highly respected by his peers. The man who killed him was wounded in the shootout as well. He was removed to a local hospital where reports of the day said during the night a police officer slipped into his room and shot him again. The suspect survived, was immediately tried for murder and convicted; after which he died of his injuries. The paper later reported that the officer who came into the suspect's room and shot him had only gone in to "scare him" using blanks that had been in his revolver during a police field day demonstration/competition. Nothing further was reported about the officer and it's believed that he continued his career without incident.
This is me and my steel worker son (who's approaching middle age) on my 1976 FLH police Harley. That Shovelhead had a speed wobble above 80 mph that was so bad I almost jumped off during one robbery pursuit. If you look behind me you can see my city issue Model 10 with beat up grips.
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Here's my new to me commemorative revolver. I'm retired now and the money hits the bank on time every month
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In 1986 I was a young police officer with a wife, three kids and all the expenses that go with it on a beat cop's salary. A couple older officers with connections talked Smith & Wesson and a police supply company into making commemorative revolvers available for us to buy, a Model 19 and/or a Model 66. For nearly six months, there was a pair of them, already engraved sitting on the counter of the Court Detail office where we checked in for court. I was working in a very active part of town so consequently I made a lot of court appearances. Every time I checked in I looked at those revolvers and daydreamed. I was carrying my city issue Model 10 and was so indigent I almost had to finance the Tyler T grip on it. I don't remember the price of the guns but it was absolutely out of the question given my family responsibilities.
When the guns came in I wished I had somehow found a way to get one but knew that I'd done the right thing. Years, then decades, went by; I always kept my ear to the ground but no one wanted to part with one of the only eighty revolvers to commemorate our department. Fast forward to the other day; I contacted one of the two guys I used to work with who arranged them way back when. We shot the breeze and then I asked if he knew of any for sale. Low and behold he was working with a fellow retired DPD officer that I had taught in the academy. He had bought the gun from a collector, unfired and in the box. Teaching at the academy was one of the greatest experiences of my life, I learned as much as they did. Consequently, I have a connection to all those officers who went though during my tenure.
I called my former student and we discussed how things were going for him and the possible sale of the gun. A very long story short, he sold it to me and now I have what I dreamed of as a young man. I think this is better than if I would have bought it in the beginning. Surely some emergency would have come up and I would have sold it when we didn't have much. This way, not only did I wind up with it, but I got it from someone who I have a connection with. I've never had a firearm in my life that I didn't shoot; until now. Upon my death it will be donated to our police history foundation/museum so it will be where it belongs.
Our FOP lodge is named for Capt. John C, Post who was murdered in a shootout in 1927. He was a cop's cop and was highly respected by his peers. The man who killed him was wounded in the shootout as well. He was removed to a local hospital where reports of the day said during the night a police officer slipped into his room and shot him again. The suspect survived, was immediately tried for murder and convicted; after which he died of his injuries. The paper later reported that the officer who came into the suspect's room and shot him had only gone in to "scare him" using blanks that had been in his revolver during a police field day demonstration/competition. Nothing further was reported about the officer and it's believed that he continued his career without incident.
This is me and my steel worker son (who's approaching middle age) on my 1976 FLH police Harley. That Shovelhead had a speed wobble above 80 mph that was so bad I almost jumped off during one robbery pursuit. If you look behind me you can see my city issue Model 10 with beat up grips.
Here's my new to me commemorative revolver. I'm retired now and the money hits the bank on time every month
