How I setup my Police External Carrier for Patrol

Hey, it's Xavier, CRC here. Got an interesting video for you today, a little bit different. Had to bring my vest home because it needed a good cleaning. And I thought, why not use this opportunity to show you guys how I do my gear setup for patrol. So, let's get into it. So starting off right away, I have my external carrier. So I use this because it allows me to put a lot of gear, as you can see all this gear on the table. I'll go through each piece briefly as I begin to set it up. But it allows me to place the majority of my gear up around my chest and torso area and allows me to take a lot of the weight off of my duty belt. And I'll show you that at the end of the video. So, this is a body armor carrier by Point Blank. I actually really like it. As you can see, it kind of mimics a uniform shirt. And that's what our department had chosen to go with. A few officers were complaining about the lack of MOLLE. There's some other ones out there that have MOLLE that kind of wrap all the way around. But as you'll see, if you are economic, you kind of plan where you want everything, it actually works out pretty well. So, first thing I'm gonna do is I am going to load up my plates. This is one of the things that I love the most about this vest is that it allows me to carry rifle level plates immediately. I have it on me at all times. So, oftentimes some people might have like an active shooter kit and they have their rifle plates, their heavy plates already in there. With this carrier, I'm always wearing mine. So for me, I use Point Blank Paraclete Speed Plate Plus plates, they're eight by 10. They're multi-hit certified plates. They stop, you know, all the normal rounds plus five, five, six, and seven, six, two. So what I do at the front, I pop open this little armor section here and I slip this in, fold it up, make sure the Velcro is aligned, make sure it's nice and tight. Next, my front body armor. Our department, my department issues level 3A body armor. That's what we have, you can see it's a little worn, a little torn, it's coming up on time for replacement. But then I put that in next and I put that in behind or on top of the hard plate as we're looking at it. One of the key parts about this is you gotta make sure that you get these little tonsil pieces right here all the way up into the shoulder area. Once that's all set up and in, same like with the plates, I'm gonna make sure that it's pulled nice and tight and that the Velcro is all lined up. I like to feel the areas to make sure everything is positioned where it should be. All right, that's the front piece. Now I'm about to do the same thing for the back. Okay, now we're gonna do the same thing but just for that back panel. So same thing, we're gonna open it up here. Already we have our little piece open. Take my plate. I wear front and back. Some people only like to wear it in the front, you know, kind of like that Black Hawk Down scene. I don't plan on running from it, you know. But he ended up taking a round in the back and that's never pleasant. So, yeah, I always wear both plates, you know. I know some people like to try to cut down on weight but I just don't think it's worth it, especially when you're talking about your safety, especially when you're talking about rifle rounds specifically. So same thing here, it's a back panel, level 3A. Another good thing about these plates, it's just, it really is really good protection. And these are not in conjunction plates. So those plates are standalone. They will stop those high velocity rounds all by themselves. And then on top of it, I wear my level 3A. So again, I'm just gonna slide this all the way up in there. It is a bit of a snug fit as you would want it to be. So, takes a little finagling. I really make sure that everything is fitted and stretched to the length that it needs to be and that I have it positioned where I want it. Because, you know, I'm gonna be the one wearing this thing for, you know, 10, 12 hours at a time. All right, once that's done, simply Velcro it back up, keep everything in place. And now, we get to get to the fun part, which is setting up the equipment. So this is it all set up, at least internally. So I have my plates in there, plates on the back, level 3A goes all the way up to the shoulders here, to the shoulders here, and same thing on the back. So, this is how I rock my plate carry-on. That's all the insides. And now we're gonna do the outside stuff, the stuff that everyone gets to see, you know. So I'll show you how I set that up. So when it comes to setting up my external gear, one of the first things I like to do before I start, you know, attaching everything is I like to attach my comms. I like to run my comms and attach them. So, this piece right here is like the mic. We kind of click this little top piece right here that allows us to go out. Of course, this is our earpiece. This is the wire that I feed through the vest to connect to the radio. So for me, I like to run my mic right here on the center, like that, so I can just reach up with my hand and grab it. This piece right here, you know, just takes a little bit of wire management. But I like to clip it kind of right here on this high upper shoulder piece right here. This piece gets tucked down into this little pocket that feeds everything so that everything's just kind of out of the way. And then this long wire's gonna come in next. It's a little tricky, but not too much. So what I have to do is I have to feed this literally through the whole vest. And it's just a lot easier to do with no gear. I just kind of grab it, fill it in there, kind of work its way down. We're gonna get to come out of this little hole right here. Once it's through, I just feed it all the way through and tie everything down. Don't want it too tight, just tight enough. Now just let that hang off to the side. All right, so looking at this centerpiece, for me, I like to rock two things toward the center because it's closest towards my hands and my natural grip. So one thing I like toward the center are my mags, okay? And the next thing I like toward the center are my cuffs. All right, two things that I'm gonna need to grab kind of quick, fast, and in a hurry, aside from the taser or the pistol. So I kind of lay everything out first because these things right here are a mother, are a mother blinker and a half to take off, especially by yourself. So I like to lay everything out just to make sure that I have the positioning of everything that I want. And I'll go over everything in detail as I'm putting each individual piece on. I just like to make sure that everything's gonna fall where I need it to. And yep, yep, yep, okay. So if you notice these cool holsters, if you like them, shout out. I am not sponsored or affiliated. There's no affiliation links down below or anything like that. But every Kydex holster piece you see right here with this little cool setup right here, this is by a company named Zero Nine Holsters. Again, I'm not affiliated with them at all. Don't got no coupon codes or discount codes for you guys. Just telling you what I like to use. I like the straightforward facing mags. I've gotten really used to just grabbing it. It works for me. Some people like the ones that face towards the side like that. It's your own preference. You do your own thing. I'm telling you what I like. So I like my things to sit up high. So I always go through the first rung of the MOLLE. I feed it through. It's a real cinch to put on. Pretty easy. Just kind of feed these two little pieces here. Pre-stage it and then just simply push it through. And it's on. Next piece, radio is at the shop. So you're not gonna see it, but this is my radio holster right here. I put that on next to the mags. Same thing. I feed from the top, put it through both of them. Pre-stage one here, pre-stage the other there. And then just push it through. And it sits there and it's ready to go. Now, something that I do, and it's a little trick. It's for you guys who are already cops out there. I believe that, you know, if you have tools to make people bleed, you definitely wanna have quick access to tools and items that can help stop bleeding. So I actually rock two tourniquets, one on either side of my external carrier. And I attach them to my external carrier with these. It's my wife's little, you know, hair piece, you know, little thing that you wear on your, put your hair in a little ponytail. They work amazing for keeping tourniquets in place. So for this, I have to feed this one through the middle and I kind of create it like this. So I have this little, little butterfly catch system right here, this little loop. And through that loop is where the tourniquet goes. Nothing fancy, holds it in place. I then take my, my little radio cable here and I pre-stage it. I just kind of wrap it around the back of the holster so that when my radio's there, I can just put it in, be done with it. All right, so we're done with that side. Next side, first thing that I like closest toward the middle are my handcuffs. Nothing special about them, except for the fact I like rocking the double handcuff case. Not a big fan of the singles. I kind of like everything right where I need it to be so I can access it when I need to access it. Another thing that I do that a lot of people may not do, personal preference, is I like to rock two hinge cuffs. By our department policy, we have to have the chain, the chain cuffs. I keep those in my patrol bag, but actually on me when I'm going to calls, I like to rock two hinge. Now I do have a bigger set, which are typically for my male subjects. Then I have a smaller set, which are for my female subjects. They kind of snap right into place. I kind of preset the front ones. As always, quick little handcuffs set up. They'll teach you this in the academy, but keyholes facing out and then single rings facing in towards your gig line. Boom, slap it in. Again, I'm taking up these first two rows. Same sequence. Pre-stage that one, pre-stage that one, and then you just push them through if they don't fight you. There we go. Locked on. Next, my OC spray. Again, zero nine holster. Keep it next to the cuffs. Don't use it too much, I'm going to be 100% honest with you. I don't use it too much at all, but lock it in, same exact thing. Boom. And then lastly, on the far side, another tourniquet. Just put it through, create that same loop pattern, and feed that bad boy on through. And lastly, now we just fill up the pockets. So, I keep two handcuffs between my pockets. First one right under the badge, you kind of put it off to the side here. Never know when you're going to need your handcuff key. Never know when you're going to need it. I have been on scene before when I was a younger officer. I only had one, and for some reason I couldn't find it. It is never a good spot to be in. I'm here to tell you that. Right here, I have my SLST light. That goes right up here in this top pocket. It's kind of like a little admin piece. That's it, and then my notepad. Got some little scribbles on there, don't worry about that. But you're definitely going to need that out there on the streets. That's it for that pocket. My next pocket, that's kind of where I keep all of my cards and contact information and everything like that. So, I put that back there, keep my pens. Got a little loaner pen, if a victim or a witness need a pen to write something out with, it's the one I can loan out, and then I just, I can always get more of these from the patrol station. This is my nice pen, it's the one that I don't loan out. It's the one I keep. So, that just goes here. Another handcuff key, and then this contraption right here. And all this is, this is just a mount for my body cam. Again, it's not here, we have to keep those at the sub so they can download and get their little firmware updates and everything like that. So, how you set this up is, I take this base plate right here, I put it behind the pocket, kinda feel for where I want it, can be a little bit of a hassle. And then I'm simply going to press and slide this down, and then you just clip it like that. Then I close it up, and then the last piece is right here. I got this nice little secret pocket right there, I don't know if you guys can see that. And that is where I keep our Miranda warning, some stickers for the kids, and then a little organization book that has essential numbers and things like that that we'll need while we're out there on scene. I just take that, put that in there, Velcro it shut, tuck this until I need it, and that's it. That is the complete setup for my external carrier that I wear every day on patrol. As you can see, I'm able to put my radio on there, handcuffs, mags, OC spray, body cam. It takes a lot of weight off of the hips, and leaves a lot of free room on the duty belt. And I will show you guys that in a quick second once I swap this out. Okay, so this is my duty belt, we're gonna be going from right to left, okay? So starting at the very tip right here, I have this metal belt buckle. Now this belt originally came with plastic, but it actually broke on me when I was in a R2R. For those of you who don't know, R2R is response to resistance, basically just a fight. And the plastic buckle broke under pressure, unlike your boy. So I had some buddies of mine tell me about these metal belt buckle clips. So I picked up some, they've worked great, haven't failed. Next, literally showing you guys everything, I have zip ties. That's just to keep the belt down and tight. It has Velcro to keep it together, but zip ties work great, make sure the belt stays where I want it. Next thing here, I have a Zach tool clip. So this is where I keep my little emergency window punch and seatbelt cutter, not only for myself, but also should I come across a crash and I need to help someone get out of their vehicle. Quick, fast, and in a hurry. I also, once we check out my car keys, clip my extra vehicle key here. Next thing right here, can't miss it. It is department issue firearm, which is the MMP 9 mil. We have a little magnetic little tracker here is that basically it sets off body cameras every time that we draw the pistol from the holster. That's a new edition that we got just last year. Directly behind it, I rock, I don't know if you guys can see that, but directly behind that, I rock a multi-tool. It's a Leatherman, you can't go wrong. Can't go wrong with the Leatherman. If you wanna know what it's being held in, I'm fancy, okay? Back in the day, maybe about four or five years ago, I found this little holster on Etsy. Don't remember who it was, don't even know if they still make them, but I found this person on Etsy and they made Leatherman holsters out of metal that fit on two-inch belts and it works perfect. I always have my multi-tool on me and it's come in handy a lot. Next, behind that, I rock my ASP. I have never had to really use it on a subject. I have used it to open up mailboxes back when we had a whole bunch of suspicious packages because we were having the serial bomber. So, it's been used for that. Other than that, not so much. Next here, this little case right here is for my body mic. That connects to our in-car video, DMAS. I just put my little mic back there. Coming over some more, all this space back here is where my back is. If you guys are just getting into law enforcement, might be a cadet or thinking about doing it, listen, this stuff weighs a lot. Everything between the vest and the belt, the belt weighs a lot less now, but you wanna keep your back as clear as possible. And my back is completely clear. So that way when you lean back, you don't have a flashlight or a baton or something digging into your back, your whole shift. So I have my back clear. This is coming around now to my left side hip. I have one of my flashlights, my main flashlight, my department issue. And then I have the thing that we already made a video about. Taser 7, I did swap out that case. I got the quick release case. More zip ties on the far end. And then that female adapter for my metal belt buckle. This is way lighter. Everything that you saw on my vest originally, that used to be on this belt. This belt was extremely heavy. If you guys are cops out there, you know exactly what I'm talking about. I love my external carriers. That's my whole setup. This is my duty belt setup. And between my duty belt and my external vest, there's some miscellaneous things I keep in my pockets, like some gloves and extra flashlights, some Vicks, that's for the dead bodies. You guys don't know about that. But other than that, this is pretty much how I go to work every day. That's pretty much it. I hope you guys enjoyed the video. If you do, like, comment, subscribe, share it. I hope you guys get something out of it. I hope you guys get some ideas. If you want me to do a more in-depth video on any one piece of kit or equipment, leave some comments down below. Send me a message. I'll take it under consideration. If I get enough interest in it, I'll do an in-depth video on a specific piece of kit that I use or why I set things up a certain way. Other than that, it's been Xavier, CRC. I'll see you guys on the next one. 🎵enzo music🎵