I'll play!
I love buying gear! Hell, I buy so much gear most of my tax return is writing off work related garbage! Here is what I do
Gloves:
The cloth gloves are fun, but when you start doing body searches, its easy to miss the small stuff deep in the pockets or in the crease of the clothing etc. Then you have the nasty ones. The ones that when you take their socks off in intake a layer of skin comes off with it. *puke* do you really want to do a search of them with those nice cloth gloves and then toss them back in your cargo pocket? Even worse, halfway through your search, find out that your suspect has a "spider bite" on their arm. I like to go to Harbor Freight and get the black Nitril gloves. They are a bit more expensive than the normal gloves, but are also thicker than the gloves your agency will probably supply. Well worth it, and write it off at the end of the year. Save your cloth gloves for when you know you are going into a bad call and will be going hands on, and then get football receiving gloves (with the little rubber nubb things) people get sweaty and wet, and those things will grab on to anyone! I learned that trick doing cell extractions at the county special management unit!
Flashlights:
Buy a nice light. BUT Do not get caught up on how bright it is, make sure it will last on the battery power! I can't tell you how many times (DirtyTrigger will back me up on this!) I'd be at the river looking for a body, or missing person and get a blind call for anyone who had extra batteries for a surefire because their flashlight was dead! One hour run time sucks when the call out lasts eight or nine hours! Fenix lights are great for this, and some times (most of the time) you don't need 900 lumens to find the pen you dropped, or to sign a piece of paper, 20 will do just fine! Multiple lights, different lights for different jobs is fine, just be sure to also carry extra batteries! I love my quiqlite BTW, and use it almost daily!
Medical equipment is a MUST! You carry a gun, and work on a two way range, carry a TQ and quickclot and take a basic class on how to use it! If your agency says NOT to use it, ignore that (respectfully).
SNACKS!
you are the new guy, you will get put on the BS duty of watching the scene for your shift, count on it and DO NOT COMPLAIN. you won't get relieved to go get food, so toss some snacks in your duty bag. Water, soda, whatever, and always leave them in there. Even in ten years, do that. Thank me later.