1911 "fad"? I don't know of many fads that have lasted 107 years.
Most cops hated automatics up until the 3rd gen S&W's and 1st gen Glocks came out in the 80's. Government .45's included.
1911's weren't carried by many folks until they became flashy bling BBQ gun status symbols in the mid 90's. The CCW movement revived them due to the thin profile and excellent trigger, and since firearms research was essentially a dead-end from a financial perspective (Can't innovate due to AWB and mag capacity restrictions), 1911 gunsmithing was the big high-dollar industry to jump into.
I remember being in Tacoma WA for college in 1996 to 2000, and TPD switched from Berettas to Kimber 1911's. It was a big deal. Here's a news article on it:
http://www.sightm1911.com/lib/review/Tacoma_ProCarry.htm“We’re the first major police department to transition to the 1911 in 50 years,” said Sgt. Mark Jenkins, the department’s range master and an instrumental player in the selection of the new guns.
Sgt Jenkins did about a year of research when tackling this issue... if some other major PD had chosen the 1911, he would have known about it. Kimber has been milking the TPD choice for a decade or more now, off-and-on, in their marketing.
PD's that issue service guns to officers typically don't choose the 1911 (with the exception of SWAT/HRT units).
I think Tacoma got:
1. A sweetheart deal from Kimber that made 1911's available to them for the price of Glocks and Sigs
2. Extra armorer training from Kimber, and already had a rangemaster/armorer that had a fetish for the 1911
3. A selection committee that got sucked into the regular guy 1911 propaganda in the wake of the AWB.
Otherwise, you'd have more PD's out there between 1950 and 2000 that issued 1911's.
