[JC57]

Former LEO here, from back in the 70s through early 90s. (I believe Newhall had occurred a few years before I started because I remember being trained never to catch my brass).

We were issued .38 SPL +P 125 gr. semi-jacketed HP rounds. Our practice / qualification ammo was factory reload 148 grain wadcutters.

The department did not issue guns, we had to buy our own and were not compensated or reimbursed. We could purchase any gun we wanted as long as it was a 4" barrel S&W or Colt revolver that would fire .38 special. Most carried S&W model 10s, 13s, 19s, or the stainless equivalents. I carried a model 66 most of the time, but at later times carried a model 10 and briefly a model 581 when the L frames first came out.

The reason for the wadcutters was to save money. It was a small department and the budget was always tight. The chief wasn't into guns and looked down on you as some sort of gung-ho cowboy if you showed any interest in them, so the culture in the department was rather low-key with respect to firearms.

Eventually we got to where at the end of our semi-annual requalification round of 50 wadcutters, they would have us shoot the 18 rounds of service ammo (38 +P) that we had been carrying the prior 6 months so we could get used to the feel of "full power" rounds, and would then give us 18 fresh rounds of ammo.

Later they began allowing us to carry 9mm autos (still had to buy our own) and they issued us Federal 9BP ammo. By that time they were giving us a whole box of 50 plus two extra rounds because you needed a full 52 rounds if you were going to load up three mags plus one in the pipe (Glock 17s were on the approved list, and most who switched to autos carried those). The practice ammo was regular 9mm FMJ, but the recoil was essentially the same as the service ammo.

Finally shortly before I retired they actually issued us guns that we didn't have to buy (S&W 5946 DAO 9mm autos). I haven't kept up with what they did after that.

I believe the reason (back then) is that the decision-makers were primarily the chiefs / sheriffs, and in most departments these guys had come up through the ranks 20 or more years earlier, so their opinions had been formed in the 50s. Shootouts and criminals with automatic weapons was something that for them was from childhood stories about the gangsters during prohibition, and that sort of thing didn't happen any more. It wasn't until the gang and drug related violence of the 80s and 90s came along that proved to them that an old six shooter just really didn't cut it any more, so they learned or retired and departments changed.