Archive for Edged Weapons
Knives in Law Enforcement: It’s OK to Say They’re for Self Defense!
Posted by: | CommentsEvery cop I know carries at least one knife on them. When asked in public, most of them will say they are tools for opening things or, my favorite, freeing motor vehicle accident victims by cutting off the seatbelt. However, ask the same cops in the locker room and they will all state that they carry a knife as a deadly force option in a lethal struggle.
Well, I think it is time for cops, and administrators, to publicly acknowledge that knives are self defense tools in deadly force situations. More importantly, it is time for departments to incorporate knives into their training so the officers have the needed skills to use the knife if they ever have to. Read More→
Recognize A Deadly Force Situation: Tasers Are Not Appropriate
Posted by: | CommentsPolice officers have enjoyed the use of the Taser X26 (and the effective M26 before that) as an excellent intermediate force option that allows the quick incapacitation of an offender while minimize the chance of harm to the suspect and officers involved. Tasers tend to be effective where pain compliance techniques are not.
However, Tasers are not 100% reliable. For the Taser to work properly there has to be a completed circuit with electricity flowing through a wide section of muscle mass. The failure of a Taser to effectively work can happen if only one probe hits the suspect, or the probes land too close together, or there is a faulty battery, or thick clothes do not allow the probes to get close to the skin. I’ve seen Tasers fail to incapacitate in each of these situations. The point is: the X26 is effective but not 100%.
There is an understandable reluctance by police officers to use deadly force. Cops are not evil people and they do not want to harm or kill anyone. So, many times when a police officer faces a situation in which deadly force is the appropriate level of force, the officer may hesitate or seek some other lower level of force, which generally decreases their own safety. While in some respects this is admirable, the fact is the officer must survive and win the encounter, not just for his or her own well being, but for the community as a whole. For if the officer is incapacitated or killed due to their attempt at a lower force option, their killer is now free to harm other innocents…perhaps even with the officers own weapons.
If a police officer encounters a suspect armed with a deadly weapon, the officer’s appropriate response will be deadly force, not a Taser. A suicidal subject armed with a knife or a gun needs to see the business end of your AR, shotgun, or pistol…not the blast doors of a ‘green’ X26 cartridge. If you have appropriate deadly force cover (say your two zone partners are in a position of advantage covering the suspect with .223 rifles), then you might –in certain circumstances– attempt to use a Taser to subdue the suspect. The idea is that your backup can employ deadly force should the Taser attempt go wrong.
Keep in mind that the vast majority of us have Taser cartridges that are good to a maximum of 21′ or 25′. Perhaps 21′ sounds familiar? That distance should be known to all police officers as it relates to the Tueller Drill. The Tueller Drill was developed by Sgt. Dennis Tueller of the Salt Lake City PD. Sgt. Tueller discovered that an average person could cover 21′ and begin stabbing an officer in 1.5 seconds: the same amount of time an officer could draw his weapon and put a round on the threat. That, of course, does not take into account that a fatal shot is not likely to instantly stop the attack.
So, if you encounter a violent subject armed with an edged weapon AND you have lethal force cover AND you want to try to use a Taser, you better hope it works. If it doesn’t, you will likely have a subject on top of you in less than two seconds. Your partners better be very accurate and very quick. Even then you stand a pretty decent shot at getting hurt.
If the subject has a firearm, you don’t even have 1.5 seconds, as they just have to point and pull the trigger.
So, read your department SOP’s, know your state laws of the use of force, and work out plans with your zone partners before you encounter a deadly force situation in which you may want to try a Taser.
Edged Weapons: Police Training Needs to Address This Deadly Force Issue
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Edged weapons are generally considered to be knives, razor blades, and other slashing and stabbing weapons. They may be designed as weapons, such as a balisong (butteryfly knife), or an edged weapon may be improvised, such as a shard of broken glass.
On average, 1358 officers each year are attacked with an edged weapon. The breaks down to 3 to 4 edged weapon assaults per day on police officers.
I suspect that even the most timid administrator will agree that a machete is a deadly weapon, but what about a Swiss Army knife with a 1″ blade? The truth is, the smaller the blade, typically, the more deadly it is. In “The Dynamics of Stab Wounds,” researchers found that an adequately sharp blade of any length can inflict a fatal slash wound to an area such as the neck. Additionally, they found that:
“The ideal weapon is, in fact, a short thin-bladed knife, with a stiff blade, about 7 cm (about 2.75″) in length…”
A blade of less than 3″ may be the ideal weapon? How many people do you encounter each day with a pocket knife that meets that length? Especially now that the folding knives with the pocket clips have become fashionable.
What training have you had in simply disarming a subject who has a knife clipped to his pocket? Police training programs and policies need to address this issue. While we all may be able to agree that a knife is a deadly weapon, a lot of cops do not perceive the small knife as being dangerous. Trainers need to teach officers that all edged weapons are dangerous, and how to deal with them in the safest manner possible.
I will, of course, have more on this subject in the near future.
Stay safe!
