What Pistol Do Most Police Departments Carry?

The number nobody has

There are thousands of law enforcement agencies in the United States, from federal bureaus to two-officer town departments. Each one decides for itself what pistol its officers carry. Some run formal trials and award multi-year contracts. Some publish an approved list and let officers buy their own. Some still carry whatever they bought fifteen years ago.

No federal agency collects that information in one place. So when you read that a particular brand has a precise percentage of the police market, ask where the number came from. Usually it is a manufacturer's marketing claim or a rough estimate. This page sticks to what can be documented: named agencies, named pistols and published sources.

The short version

The rest of this page explains each row, with sources.

Glock: the reputation and the record

Glock's police reputation is enormous. Wikipedia's Glock article states that the company supplies the majority of US police agencies, citing a published source; it is a widely repeated claim and plausible given the brand's history, but it is not an official count.

What is documented:

• FBI. The Bureau adopted Glock pistols in .40 S&W for general agent use in May 1997. On June 29, 2016, a contract award showed it moving to 9mm Glocks; CNNMoney reported the deal at a potential 85 million dollars and noted Glock had supplied the FBI's .40 caliber pistols since 1997. Glock's 17M and 19M were created in response to the FBI solicitation, according to published model histories.
• US Customs and Border Protection. The Glock 47 was created for CBP, according to published accounts, as a G17-size gun with full parts compatibility with the Glock 19 apart from slide and barrel.
• State and international. Glock's own site, as cited on Wikipedia, listed the South Carolina Highway Patrol and the Ontario Provincial Police as adopters as of 2017. Treat that as a manufacturer statement.

For more on how Glock got there, see our history of the Glock's rise in American policing.

Sig Sauer: the P320 surge

The Sig P320 family is the strongest challenger to Glock in US law enforcement over the last decade, helped by the Army's January 2017 selection of P320 variants as the M17 and M18.

Documented agency users include:

• US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). ICE adopted the P320 in February 2017 under a five-year contract, according to Soldier Systems, which reported in July 2025 that ICE had extended the contract through July 2027.
• State police and highway patrols. Wikipedia's P320 article, which compiles news reports, lists the Oklahoma Highway Patrol (2015), Hawaii Department of Public Safety (2015), Rhode Island State Police (2017), Texas Department of Public Safety (2018) and Virginia State Police (2018), along with the Michigan, Indiana and Delaware State Police.
• City departments. The same lists include Chicago and Tampa among current users, and note that Dallas and Milwaukee (2019 to 2023) stopped using the P320.

The P320 also carries a documented and contested safety history, including a 2017 voluntary upgrade and agency actions in 2025. Our pluses-and-minuses scorecard lays out that timeline neutrally. Sig maintains the P320 cannot fire without a trigger pull.

Sig's smaller P365 has also entered police service; Wikipedia's P365 article lists the Indiana State Police, Chicago Police Department and Michigan State Police among its users, without always saying in what role.

FN: the 509 comes on strong

FN's 509 grew out of the company's entry in the Army's MHS competition. After Sig won, FN brought the design to market, and its MRD-LE variant has since won notable police contracts:

• Los Angeles Police Department adopted the FN 509 MRD-LE as its standard sidearm in 2021, according to Wikipedia's FN 509 article, which cites Police1.
• Waterbury Police Department in Connecticut adopted the MRD-LE in 2024, per an FN America press release dated October 29, 2024.

Smith & Wesson: the M&P's long run

The M&P, introduced in 2005 and updated as the M2.0 in 2017, has a long police record. Wikipedia's M&P article lists:

• The Belgian Federal Police, which acquired the M&P9 in 2011.
• The Puerto Rico Police Department, which adopted the M&P in 2009 and later replaced it with the Sig P320.
• The LAPD, which used the M&P9 before moving to the FN 509.
• The California Highway Patrol and San Antonio Police Department with the M&P40, and the Massachusetts State Police with the M&P45.

Springfield Echelon: the newcomer

Springfield's Echelon, introduced in July 2023, has early adopters. Wikipedia's Echelon article names the Lake Ozark Police Department in Missouri, the Geneseo Police Department and Henry County Sheriff's Office in Illinois, and, internationally, Spain's National Police Corps, which adopted it in 2025 to replace HK USPs.

The caliber story

The other big trend is caliber. For years, .40 S&W was the American police standard. The FBI's 2016 contract for 9mm pistols and the Army's 9mm MHS award are widely seen as markers of the swing back to 9mm, which now dominates new duty contracts. Our .40 S&W and .357 SIG reality checks look at what is left of those calibers in duty holsters.

Why agencies choose what they choose

When a department picks a pistol, the reasons are rarely about which gun is "best" in the abstract. Common factors include:

1. Holster, light and optic support for the exact gun and accessories the agency wants.
2. Armorer training and parts availability.
3. Contract pricing and trade-in offers for old guns, which are negotiated and rarely public in detail.
4. Testing results in the agency's own trials.
5. Fit across officers, which favors guns with interchangeable grips or modules.
6. Optics readiness, now a major factor as red dots become standard.

That is why neighboring agencies often carry different guns, and why the same agency may switch brands at the end of a contract.

What this means for you

If you are an officer choosing a personally owned duty gun, start with your agency's approved list. If you are a civilian who wants what police carry, the Glock 17 and 19, Sig P320, FN 509 and M&P M2.0 are all commercially available, though some police-specific variants are sold only through agency channels; check your state's laws, including magazine-capacity rules, before buying. Spare factory Glock 17 magazines or Sig P320 magazines are the most common duty spares.

Editorial note: This is an independent editorial overview built from manufacturer specifications, retailer listings and published sources. We have not performed hands-on testing of the products discussed, and nothing here is a performance guarantee. Verify specifications, compatibility and the law where you live.

Affiliate disclosure: Some links on this page are affiliate links to Ammunition Depot. We may earn a commission if you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. Our editorial choices are not influenced by commissions. Check current price, stock and specifications directly with the retailer.