1969 Police Equipment Prices

[icu650]

I was going through some old papers and found this original list of police related equipment that I needed to buy. I wrote this list out when I first got in the academy October 1969.

[retdetsgt]

Most of that stuff was furnished to us, but I remember the leather gloves I bought were 8 bucks in 1970. They were skin tight. The sap gloves were about 12 bucks. They were outlawed a couple of years after I bought them though. Too bad, when you hit someone, they stayed hit!

My flashlight I bought, it was a Kel-Lite, I don't remember what it cost though. Probably about 10 - 12 bucks. But they did give us all of our leather gear. We also had to buy our own guns and handcuffs. Now they furnish everything but underwear, shoes and socks.

[icu650]

I was a cadet for about a year but when I turned "blue" I believe I paid $68.00 for a new .38 Smith and Wesson Combat Masterpiece. Could that be about right? It seems so cheap now.
( I see I spelled "necessary" wrong on the top of the list)

[retdetsgt]

Ha, my first pistol was a S&W Model 15. I bought it at a department store for $85. The department would sell us model 10's for 50 bucks, but I wanted something with adjustable sights....... Back then everybody sold handguns, it seemed. A large drug store chain even carried them.