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I though I would weigh in here as I had recently had this question asked at a match. I consider law enforcement as having the powers of arrest, state or federal. There are two pieces of equipment I will allow a pass on. One is radios because not only are they expensive but some smaller departments don't let their officers carry them home anyway. I also will allow a pass on fixed batons. I don't think anyone is really using a fixed baton anymore but I think it could be a safety issue during a match. Any and all retention features must be used.

This can be a problem for a club to handle as each department is different. What I don't want to see (and have) is a officer showing up with what amounts to as a race holster and pouches and try and tell me it's his duty gear. The addition of cuff cases, baton pouch and other cases usually puts a stop to this and allows an officer to make an informed decision on what arrangement of gear really works and what they can really do in their gear. I have had a number of officers tell me that because of wearing their gear to the range on an IDPA match they felt much better prepared about knowing what they can actually do with a full gear load.

As far as the race gear set up, I don't really mind anyone occasionally using something outside the rules as long as their scores are not posted with the regular competitors. IDPA's scoring system is easy enough that a few minutes is all it takes to figure out where they would have been. This flexibility is especially good to use with new shooters that may not have legal gear their first time out. We should never penalize the rest of the competitors with legal gear for the one person with illegal gear. If you include that one person in the scores, that is exactly what you are doing.