New York's own pilot program has produced the types of accidental shootings that have prompted other departments to ban Glocks.

In an incident in May 1991, an officer from the Firearms and Tactics Section was playing a shuffleboard game in a bar when he bent down to pick up the puck and his Glock fell out of its holster, according to a Police Department report. The gun glanced against the side of the game and discharged as the officer tried to grab it. The bullet struck another officer in the thigh. Accidental Firing

In October 1990, in an incident unrelated to the pilot program, an officer pulled the trigger on his Glock while cleaning it in his bedroom and accidentally fired a bullet. He was not authorized to carry a Glock and had not been trained in its use.

The Glock was chosen for the New York test because it was the best semiautomatic available at the time, said Deputy Inspector John C. Cerar, commanding officer of the Firearms and Tactics Section. He said he opposes the use of semiautomatics, but would recommend the Glock for general police use if the department is forced to allow semiautomatics.

Inspector Cerar said the department was relatively happy with the performance of the Glock, which is used by some New York City Transit Authority Police officers. He said the gun seemed to perform as well as other brands of semiautomatics. All semiautomatics have problems, he said, but with proper training, officers should have no more trouble with Glocks than with other brands.

"Every one of them, I believe, have features that will lead to more accidental discharges than revolvers," Inspector Cerar said. He acknowledged that other manufacturers have significantly improved their semiautomatics since the Glock was selected, but added, "Glock had a great idea before everybody else did."

One of the Glock's most troubling features, in the view of some, is the necessity of pulling the trigger in order to dismantle the weapon for cleaning. No other major brand of semiautomatic requires a trigger pull for cleaning. That feature can lead to unintentional firing, as it apparently did in the 1990 incident in New York. Costly Training