Cobracutter,
I have to step in here and correct some of your false statements. Please don't take any of this personally as I do understand you are just trying to prove your point that Glocks are great combat handguns. Honestly I agree they are great pistols but are not the end all be all of handguns.
First off I know of several large Police Departments that do allow carry of the M&P and XD. How do I know? I carry an M&P and work for one of the top 30 largest agencies in the country. I know of many other large agencies that also allow them. Most of those agencies run the pistols through a pretty thorough selection process before allowing them to be carried. BTW there were several H&K pistols that failed those tests and we're not approved. The H&K pistols that were approved were recently removed from our authorized list since some broke and H&K customer service was pure shit even to a large agency. We have had no known failures with the M&P so far. Glocks have a great track record too with very few failures over many years.
One of your firearms training experts you keep mentioning also has a track history of using the M&P. That person is Travis Haley. Watch all his Magpul training videos and check out the M&P in his holster. I would not put too much stock in what those trainers say because most of them are paid to use what is in their holster or get some form of kickbacks for it, not because they are using the best of the best....
Just my two cents....
Thanks for the info. However there is a big difference between being issued by a large department and letting officers buy what they want (which is common in the west and south).
Scenario 1: Police department is looking for new issued guns. Does an analysis, T&E and or buys based on what another agency does. Gets the guns and "support"
Scenario 2: Guy gets hired as police. Is either given a small stipend or told to buy what he wants. Since most cops don't know their ass from hole in the ground (like most civilians) about guns, he buys the cheapest gun he can get away with. It's not like the cops here in MD/DC/VA who can start around $50K a year and easily push $100K with overtime. So he buys a cheap gun and doesn't know any better.
There is a HUGE difference between an individual officer purchase, a small department purchase and a large agency purchase. Look at what the large agencies buy. Also notice, Atlanta PD is not getting rid of the M&P going back to the Glock because of the massive amount of issues with them. Texas DPS & NC State Troopers also got rid of theirs over same issues. Even agencies get caught up in the latest/greatest thinking the grass is always greener. Who knows, if their armorers or people doing the T&E are even competent?
Love to hear more about the HK, considering it usually tops most tests in performance but is either not chosen because of price or lack of a striker variant.
Your right about the trainers in their videos. Actually take their classes and talk to them offline, and you will get no bs answers. They know what works and what doesn't because guys bring different gear all the time.
Depite all that, there are still serious issues with the M&P. Some have been fixed, and some haven't. They took an older design, cleaned up some lines to make it pretty, and sold it as the M&P. It still has the same accuracy issues, it still has an absolute shit trigger that needs $200 in parts/work to be serviceable. It still has barrel lock up issues that are one of the reasons for accuracy issues. Some are better than others, but thats more to do with manufacturing variability. Looks like they fixed the rusting issues and a couple of others so they get credit for that.
Bottom line, people who have a HIGH probability of getting into a gunfight, and can choose their gear..... usually have one of two brands strapped to their hip. S&W and Springfield they are not.