http://m.wsoctv.com/news/news/local/north-carolina-troopers-replace-nearly-2000-guns/nZP93/
Be nice to have some more information on the malfunctions they are encountering.
I also was struck by how they spun this for the media with reference to "tap, rack, [ready?]" drill.
This struck me funny for two reasons. First, I was taught it was the "tap, rack, bang" drill. In a high stress situation you don't usually notice a FTF until you pull the trigger and get no bang. In my training the presumption was you were working to get a 'bang', not get back to 'ready'.
Second, the idea that you can preserve officer safety in the face of a malfunctioning gun with such a drill is pure comedy. You don't leave the house (or station) with a gun that isn't 100% reliable. If I were on the force, I would require a new gun, the option to use my own, paid leave or a new job.
And lest you think I am posturing (which I am a little); I actually left the last LE agency I worked for before I entered IT because of lack of professionalism and safety in regards to departmental weapons procedures.
Many local S.O. down here are switching back to the 9mm from the 40's and 357Sig, purely economics stand point! Ammo cost and availability for practice are what was driving this even before the POTUS second term.
As I stated before, for public relations and legal litigations, they want to bring the perp to justice, eliminate pass thru and by-stander injury or fatalities. While this doesn't happen often, litigations are very costly in monetary funds, public relations and possible officers being dismissed or fired.
The "buzz" I hear is they are moving away from the "safe" pistols (which are primarily S&W in LE), and not so much due to actual failures. Magazine disconnects, decockers and difficult mechanical safeties have got to go. Any of them can, and have, cause greater incidents of injury or death. This is a very old discussion, finally brought to light.