One thing many people have noticed in recent years is that the gear police officers use has been advancing quite rapidly. While there are many reasons for this, the top thing that’s pushing the envelope for police equipment is technology. Without it, the items in our law enforcement storewouldn’t be nearly as impressive.

To better understand where we’ve gotten, though, we need to look at where we came from. With this brief look into how police equipment has changed throughout history, we intend to do just that.

Weaponry

Ever since the inception of law enforcement, the usage of weapons to help protect the public has been common practice. Before official institutions existed during the 1800s, the choice of weaponry was sporadic. Once police departments started popping up, though, officers were given two types of weapons: a gun and a nightstick.

These lethal and nonlethal options have been around forever and haven’t changed much. The one thing that has changed, though, is the inclusion of either a Taser or pepper spray. Departments have felt that giving officers a nonlethal option that one can use at range is necessary for today’s political climate. There’s no doubt its inclusion has been useful to many officers.

Communication Devices

Unlike weaponry, communication devices have come a long way. In the beginning, there was no way to communicate with officers who were out on patrol. However, that all changed in 1928 with the introduction of the one-way radio. With this device, departments could quickly relay information to their officers in an instant.

Of course, the need to respond to calls quickly became apparent, and in 1934, the two-way radio became the standard for police officers. Since then, radios have become much smaller and more easily portable, making them a necessary piece of gear that officers carry on their persons at all times.

Data Logging

While this doesn’t deal with gear used in the field, equipment used to log crimes, arrests, and warrants is just as crucial for understanding how police equipment has changed throughout history. Even though some departments still use paperwork to this day, it used to be the only way to track this kind of data.

That was until around 1955. This was when some departments started to use electronic data processing machines to keep track of important information. Not too long after that, in 1967, the FBI started up the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), which departments still use for tracking data to this day. Thanks to the number of personal consumer electronics, any officer can easily access any of this crucial information.

Other Police Items

Of course, police officers use tons of other types of gear throughout their daily routines, but things like GPS and Computer Aided Dispatch are all fairly new. If you look back in time, you’ll see that night vision was first introduced in the ’70s, and traffic radar was in use all the way back when the first radios came out. While the tech for these things has certainly advanced, the way officers use them hasn’t changed too much, which is why they’re still so reliable to this day.