Jframe in service for Vice Police

[Fer]

I was wondering as a watched an episode of Miami Vice. Regarding the weapons used by Crockett and Tubs, before the producer of the program decided to put it on the air was there any research done on the real weapons used by the real vice police or do the actors go to the prop department and choose the weapon they like best?.
We have talked many many times in this forum that a 5 shot revolver is ok for us civilians that need protection agains a BG in the wallmart parking lot, but if we where to raid a crack house most agree that a high capacity autoloader is in order.
Tubs in the Tv program uses a bodyguard Jframe revo for most of his tasks, sometimes as back up to a small shotgun but most of the time its only a jframe. Crockett carries a semiauto 10mm I think I may be wrong, how close to real life are those choices?

 

[Yankee Doodle]

Depends on your Agency. I had absolutely no choice. Uniform weapon was a 4" .38, either Colt or S&W.
Once you got "out of the bag", and into street clothes, if you wanted to carry anything else it still had to be a .38, either Colt or S&W.
So, when you worked narc., vice, or anything else, you carried a .38. For whatever it's worth, my "BUG" was a 1911A1 in an IWB in small of back, under a jacket.

 

[Rimrod]

My brother works for a tri-county drug task force. At first he carried a S&W model 36. After several years they recieved a large grant and the Sgt. in charge of the task force bought all of them Glock 30s.

 

[tlm225]

With few exceptions, it appears that TV shows and movies select their props for theatrical effect and are rarely concerned with real world applications. IIRC the 10mm Bren Ten was Crockett's first gun, selected because it was the latest and greatest (before it flopped), not because it was a cop gun.

 

[BillCA]

In regards to your question about how much research they did into what real cops carry (in the 80's vice teams), the answer is none whatsoever. This is Hollywood entertainment after all.

In the first season, Don Johnson carried a Bren Ten. At that time it was relatively unknown and was a pre-production gun based on a CZ design. Tubb's character may have been closer to reality with a short-barreled shotgun and a J-frame .38. In reality, most street cops would have laughed at using a 10mm gun for that kind of work. Large, bulky, a non-proven design and an expensive, hard to get cartridge (at that time). Plus the power factor of the original 10mm was on a par with full-house .41 Rem Magnum rounds.

Cops in vice details often bet their lives on their choice of guns. Some agencies allow undercover officers a lot of lattitude in their choice of firearms. Other agencies require the use of a standardized gun and/or cartridge. You can bet that an officer's first choice will be a proven design from a manufacturer of quality guns.

Script writers are notoriously gun-ignorant as are producers and directors. In many cases, guns are selected for their spiffy looks most of all or the ability of the SFx guys to produce an enormous fireball out of the muzzle. Over the years, even fairly good cop-shows have had really bad examples of gun ignorance. The cheesier the show, the worse it gets.

"There's some nut running around out there with a 9mm Magnum!"
--Richard Jaekel in Police Story (circa '77-78)

"The coroner's report confirms it, you were using hollow-point bullets! You didn't want to stop this guy, you appointed yourself judge, jury and executioner the moment you loaded those hollow-points in your gun!
--Scene from Lady Blue, a short lived series based in Chicago.

"He's using a .38 with mercury-tipped bullets. They go off like a bomb when they hit someone."
-- Jack Lord in Hawaii Five-O (a notoriously anti-gun show)

"I don't need to tell you these guys are pros and heavily armed."
-- Scene from SWAT which cuts to one of the "pros" armed with a crappy Linda 9mm semi-auto carbine.

 

[Fer]

Good quotes BillCA!!! that answers my question, thanks to all.