[Mike Irwin]

In the area where I grew up most of the departments were small enough that they didn't issue firearms to their officers. Officers either received a stipend to purchase their own from a list, or they carried one they already owned.

When I was working for the newspaper I lived in an area with a PD of about 15 officers for a borough of about 10,000 people. On the outskirts were several township police departments and a couple of smaller borough (few thousand residents) forces that ranged from 1 full time officer to maybe 8.

During my time there:

Several officers carried Glock 9mms. They tended to be younger.

Several carried other 9mms -- at least one Beretta, one S&W, and I THINK a Colt 1911 in 9mm.

Quite a few carried Colt 1911s in .45 ACP.

One carried a Colt Double Eagle .45.

As for revolvers:

One carried an S&W .44 Magnum (this guy was freaking ENORMOUS, in his hands it looked like a snubnose .38!)

Several carried .357 Magnums, mostly S&Ws but I think also one Colt.

I don't think anyone carried a dedicated .38 Special unless it was a snub as a back up or off duty.

The really neat one, though, was the chief of the little town up the road.

He carried the Colt New Service in .45 Long Colt that his Grandfather had carried as a peace officer around World War I and which his Father, also a police officer, carried at times.