I whole heartedly agree that cops, as well as private security professionals like myself, should carry at least on good knife on them while on duty.

I’m a longtime loss prevention officer and as such am not allowed to carry a firearm while “on duty”, even though I encounter many of the same people that LEOs encounter and usually under similar circumstances (making arrests for crimes committed).

Because corporate policy doesn’t allow for firearms carry, I have had to get “creative” in the tools I carry for self defense. Next to OC, my two primary weapons of choice have been a good knife (Spyderco “Military”) carried at the “mid-line” in a “appendix” carry position and a “defensive stylus” (I own a number of brands and mix them up) carried at the “high-line” in the placket of my shirt (or thereabouts depending on the style of shirt).

Although I know that there can be a deficit of time, money and energy for cops, especially those with families, I am amazed that more cops don’t invest the time in “extra-curricular” training such as the afore-mentioned “quality trainers” or certified “martial blade-craft” instructors.

Again, just my “two cents worth”.

As long as your local laws don’t conflict, I think that everyone should be carrying a knife. I don’t think it was that long ago that everyone did carry a knife, though not a “tactical” one.

If you are asking specifically about the Ka-Bar knife, I’ve carried the TDI knife off-duty and it has carried comfortably, and doesn’t seem to print under an untucked shirt.

I didn’t carry the TDI a lot off duty, because you have to thread your belt through the sheath, and it was a bit of a pain. However, I see that Ka-Bar now has a clip you can attach to the sheath, so it may be that is no longer a concern. I haven’t tried the clip, but it should work well. I think they would have to try pretty hard to screw it up.

Hope this helps.

–Richard