ah, that racking is not just a t.v. thing. Many many years ago i and a city cop got a call about a drunk guy with a gun threatening to kill some people, himself too, behind whiskey row in prescott. When we pulled up, a crowd of drunks egging him on.
My partner pulled the 12 guage, got out and racked it. The crowd and the stupid got real quiet. My partner gave hime a choice, lay the revolver down on the ground like a good boy, or die.
He layed it down on the ground. That was my introduction to law enforcement.
"Cruiser ready" means a full tube and an empty chamber. Most shotguns have a floating firing pin, which is not and cannot be made drop safe. They are thus carried empty in vehicles to prevent discharging in a crash or when driving over a particularly severe bump/pothole/up on a curb. So a cop will always have to load one in the chamber when exiting the vehicle.
But for protecting a stationary premises, most trainers recommend having your weapon ready to be put into action as fast as possible well before you can see or otherwise positively ID any bad guys.
