Many law enforcement agencies across the globe are continuing to switch to Glock firearms as their duty and service pistols. This list grows daily and can now include the Grafton County Sheriff’s Department as, they too, have made the switch to the highly-reliable Glock pistol. Sheriff Jeff Stiegler of the Grafton County Sheriff’s Department, with 25 years of law enforcement service in New Hampshire and 6 years as the Police Chief in the neighboring state of Vermont, recognized the need to replace their service weapons.

After speaking with my department firearms instructors and reflecting on over thirty-years of law enforcement service, I recognized our department needed a highly-reliable and proven service weapon…

When any law enforcement agency has to decide on an important issue like this, we have to look at quality, price and most importantly, the ability to adequately train our staff to meet established standards and being able to defend ourselves or a third party from serious injury or death. GLOCK has stood out from all the rest. The quality of GLOCK speaks for itself. When we examined price, GLOCK provides a competitive price while giving an agency a phenomenal product.

The new duty pistols that Grafton County will be specifically transitioning to are the Gen5 G45 9mm and Gen5 G17 9mm. These pistols being from the 5th Generation, or the newest iteration of Glocks, boast over 20 improvements from the prior Gen4 models. All of these small, but valuable modifications were at the request of Federal Law Enforcement officials. Josh Dorsey, Vice President of Glock, shared these thoughts on the new Gen5 pistols:

Our goal was to meet the demanding needs of law enforcement agencies while maintaining our standard of perfection. Since the pistols have proved themselves in testing and were adopted by numerous federal agencies, they have continued to gain attention among law enforcement nationwide.

While there are a multitude of changes done to the Gen5 Glock pistols there are 5 essential ones that most all shooters and consumers will appreciate. These vary from the accuracy to the handling and to the manipulation of the firearm itself:

1. Match-Grade, GLOCK Marksman Barrel (GMB) w/ NEW Barrel Rifling
2. Removal of the Finger Grooves
3. Ambidextrous Slide-Stop
4. nDLC Finish
5. Flared Mag-Well

Anybody who picks up a Glock and is familiar with them will notice these changes right away. Sheriff Jeff Stiegler of the Grafton County Sheriff’s Department had these final remarks to say about their department’s decision to transition into Glock firearms:

In short, GLOCK is ahead of the curve on these top priorities and this transition will enable us to meet our operational and training needs for years to come. We are extremely pleased to be transitioning to the GLOCK 45 and the GLOCK 17 Gen5.

While it might come as no surprise to you that yet another law enforcement department has chosen to use the unrivaled Glock pistol as their duty weapon, what do you think? Is the Gen3, Gen4, or Gen5 your favorite iteration of a Glock? Do you like finger grooves or hate them? Let us know your thoughts in the Comments below! We always appreciate your feedback.