As a road officer for over 23 years, I began my career with the attitude of: “It’s better to have it and not need it then to need it and not have it.” Therefore, from the time I first put a uniform on I carried a backup gun. Only a few of my fellow officers did and most of them carried some sort of snub .38 or small semi auto in an ankle holster. I tried the ankle holster for a while but decided after practicing drawing with it that it was not the best place to carry a backup gun. After toying around with the idea of where to carry I settled on what I found to be the most comfortable and practical place to carry. The holster involved is any cheap pancake style holster with a right side carry clip (for right handers). What I did was clip the holster to the top left inside elastic Velcro strap for my ballistic vest.
The gun I carried for years was a Sig Sauer P230 (now a P232), it was thin and held 7+1 rounds of .380 ammo. The nice thing about carrying under the armpit inside your uniform shirt was the fact that I didn’t have to worry about it falling out during a foot chase, I could access the weapon with either hand, and it offered a small amount of protection to an area of vulnerability the vest did not cover.
Upon retiring and moving to another agency, I was told the .380 was not an authorized weapon to carry and had to make a decision to transition to a 9mm, .38, or .45 caliber weapon. Again, I played around with the idea and even bought a baby Glock 26, and the single stack Glock 36. I tested both of them in the same carry configuration and came to realize there was no way I was going to find anything as comfortable as my Sig and there was negligible difference in carrying either of the Glocks. It was just a matter of getting used to carrying a bulkier weapon. Since our duty weapon was a .45 and I took into account the fact that any encounter I had that would require me going to my backup gun would be up close and personal, I decided to carry the Glock 36.
One small thing I took for granted from my previous agency was the issue of shirts with zippers in them. My new agency did not, so I spent the $15.00 per shirt to have zippers put in all my uniform shirts. This helps facilitate a faster draw from this type of concealed carry for a backup weapon. It also benefits an officer by giving you additional room to carry things like your note pad, SWAT tourniquet, or other small duty related items. It was also a nice place to put contraband that you found on a subject while conducting a search.
As a member of our department’s training section, we conducted drills for all members that included drawing from an ankle holster. I can’t tell you how many people — after actually being put in a situation where they had to draw from an ankle holster under stress — threw their ankle rigs in the trash.