The standard police sidearm used to be the Smith and Wesson .38 six-shot revolver, a quality, durable, safe, reliable
weapon with sufficient power to do the job. Sometimes, if they patrolled a rough neighborhood, they carried a shotgun in the trunk of their prowler.

Now the standard is a 9mm automatic with a 13 or 17 round capacity magazine, and an AR-15 assault rifle in the back seat. There is also a trend in those jurisdictions that have not standardized the sidearm to allow officers to select their own weapons. In these cases, even more powerful calibers such as the 10mm, .40, or .45 Magnum, often equipped with exotic munitions and laser sights, are not uncommon. And just about everyone carries a backup (also affectionately known as a "throw-down") strapped to their ankle. The term comes from the fact that if you unfortunately shoot an unarmed citizen, you can throw down your backup and cover your ass.

My brother in law is a cop, and he says the trend is due to the fact the opposition is better armed due to the high availability of more lethal weaponry to criminals. The criminals aren't necessarily wingnuts, but the increasing firepower of the weapons they're encountering is definitely a result of wingnut nation.

Cops may be gun buffs themselves, and often exhibit wingnut tendencies of their own, but are almost unanimous in their opposition to having these weapons available to the public.

And of course, everybody wears body armor, even the bad guys.