Bags and Cases
From guns to gear to shields and even a specialized litter, you'll find ways to bring everything you need to the fight with this photo gallery of carry-alls. Photos courtesy of manufacturers.
Photo Gallery
Armored Specialty Vehicles
Armored vehicles provide officers with tactical advantages in barricade situations and other incidents involving individuals armed with high-caliber rounds. In addition to NIJ Level IV protection, they can be customized with all manner of equipment, including gear to help evacuate civilians and downed officers. Read our August feature to find out how to secure funding for these useful tools. Photos provided by manufacturers.
The Rook Critical Incident Vehicle
Ring Power's The Rook offers law enforcement agencies a versatile, tracked tactical vehicle with ballistic armoring rated to stop Level IV threats including armor-piercing rifle rounds. The Rook includes an armored deployment platform, hydrailic breaching ram, vehicle extraction tool, grapple claw, and 25-foot gooseneck trailer. The vehicle retails for $250,000. Photos courtesy of Ring Power.
Gloves: 2012
Keep your hands protected from the big and small hazards of duty. View eight currently available choices from leading law enforcement suppliers in this photo gallery.
Footwear: 2012
Whatever you wear on your feet for duty should look professional yet provide comfort and functionality. View this gallery for 11 currently available choices from leading law enforcement suppliers.
Returning To Duty: Todd Young
Fremont (Calif.) Police Officer Todd Young returned fire, after a violent Norteno gang member fired 10 rounds at him at 2:30 p.m. Aug. 27, 2010 on a street in Oakland. Officers performed trauma care on Young and delivered him to Highland Hospital, where he received life-saving emergency medical care. He is now recovering and plans to rejoin the SWAT team later this year or in early 2013. We feature his story in the June 2012 "Shots Fired" and "Todd Young's Long Road Back."
Thermal Imaging
A high-end thermal imaging system such as FLIR's Star SAFIRE HD offers law enforcement officers a powerful search tool for detecting heat-emitting objects across large search areas. The system offers a high-definition infrared camera mounted to an airborne unit that produces both EO (electro-optic) color and IR (infrared) white-hot images. Photos courtesy of FLIR Systems.
Lenco BEAR & BearCat In Action
View our gallery featuring images of Lenco's BEAR and BearCat Armored Rescue Vehicles (ARVs) in use by several law enforcement agencies. Editor's note: This gallery is sponsored by Lenco.
LAPD's Air Support Division
The LAPD Air Support Division is the largest municipal airborne law enforcement organization in the U.S. and operates from the LAPD Hooper Heliport. The helicopter crews assist with thousands of arrests, pursuits and crimes in progress each year. The LAPD's airborne law enforcement program began with one helicopter in 1956. Today, the Air Support Division is the largest municipal airborne law enforcement operation in the world and logged more than 18,000 flight hours in 2011. Photos courtesy of the LAPD's Air Support Angel's Foundation.
East Coast Blood Hand Signs
Gang members use hand signs to communicate with each other and to challenge rival members or law enforcement officers in what they call "throwing signs." After forming in Los Angeles in the early 1970s, the Bloods street gang spread to the East Coast and formed "sets." These sets include the Piru Bloods, Fruit Town Brims, and South Side Brims (in western Maryland). The hand signs in this gallery were recovered during a multi-agency investigation earlier this year. Photos courtesy of Det. Rich Keys of the Maryland State Police.
Victory Police Motorcycles
Victory Motorcycles, a division of Polaris, has introduced three new motorcycles into the police market for 2012—the Commander I, Commander II, and Vision. The touring-type bikes are conversions of the civilian Victory models Cross Country, Cross Roads, and Vision Tour respectively. The distinctively styled bikes have been upfitted for police use, tested in Michigan and Los Angeles by precision LE drivers, and adopted by several smaller agencies. Victory reps tout the officer-safety features on the cycles.