Maybe some of you have grandparents who could answer this.

I'm working on a new short story, set in January of 1933, in which one of the three major characters is a young cop on the Cleveland force. I know that uniformed cops walked their beats in those days, ranging up and down the streets in their district, checking for anything suspicious, rattling doorknobs, etc., and checked in with the station via call boxes.

Would a beat cop in those days have been armed with anything more than a nightstick, and maybe even a blackjack? Would he have had a gun? If so, what caliber was standard issue in those days, .32 or .38? Or was there no standard, and a beat cop could choose his armament?

Second question: Were there any luxury cars of that time, like Packards, that had *trunks*? All the pics I see on the 'net are of touring cars, which had no trunk, and of roadsters, which have space over the rear wheels but have rumble seats in that position. Did carmakers only create trunks later, after rumble seats went out of fashion?
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-- Paul W. (The Benzadmiral)
('03 Buick Park Avenue, charcoal/cream)
Formerly:
'97 C230, smoke silver/parchment; '86 420SEL, anthracite/light grey; '84 280CE (W123), dark blue/palomino