Load outs

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

Any officer on a force that uses zipties should have a sturdy pocketknife capable of severing zipties. It's the only way to get subjects out of zipties and sometimes it may be necessary for safety or health reasons. It'd be a major legal liability issue if a subject in your custody came to harm because no one could get him out of a ziptie.

If movies have taught me anything, pretty much all officers will have a sturdy pocketknife, for cutting open secret compartments, cutting open bags of illicit drugs (after which they'll invariably taste it, as that is well-accepted as the most appropriate method of on-the-scene identification of an unknown substance), disarming bombs (a skill every beat cop knows, naturally), etc.

More seriously, though, a good knife is extremely useful for anyone who doesn't just follow the same simple routine every day, and with the highly-variable situations an officer may find him or herself in, this goes double. Have someone trapped in their vehicle by a non-cooperative seatbelt? Knife. Abused dog getting choked by a too-tight collar? Knife. Attempted suicide via hanging? Knife. Kidnapping victim bound with rope, tape, and/or zipties (it's not just the cops that use those)? Knife. Need to remove part of a person's clothing to be able to render life-saving first-aid before the paramedics can arrive? Knife.

Originally Posted by The Colonel

My note above about the British police not being routinely armed may not apply in Ulster. It certainly didn't use to, but the peace process may have changed that.

It certainly looks like they're armed with pistols of some flavor. The guy who is second from the right very clearly looks to be armed, the guy on the left looks to also have similar but there's something in front that's attached to a lanyard and has a red button on it... pepper spray, maybe? The lady looks similarly armed, although in her case the weapon is rather obscured by her hand, the Queen's Baton (I presume that's the thing she's holding), and some pouches. The (slightly-blurry) guy on the far right has the area his weapon would be holstered completely obscured by the combination of his hand and the arm of the guy next to him.

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by Varyon

It certainly looks like they're armed with pistols of some flavor.

The important thing here is that unless they're the equivalent of SWAT officers, even armed police downplay the fact that they're strapped. Compare the picture above to pictures of some U.S. police. Their holsters are designed and mounted so they're not as conspicuous and don't get caught on things rather than being optimized for fast draw. Maybe a retention holster with a top flap? The flap would be useful at keeping out the wet.

The "semi-concealed carry" theme could be carried over into carrying spare clips in that big pouch on the chest rather than in distinctive cases worn on the belt.

[RGTraynor]

Originally Posted by Varyon

More seriously, though, a good knife is extremely useful for anyone who doesn't just follow the same simple routine every day, and with the highly-variable situations an officer may find him or herself in, this goes double. Have someone trapped in their vehicle by a non-cooperative seatbelt? Knife. Abused dog getting choked by a too-tight collar? Knife. Attempted suicide via hanging? Knife. Kidnapping victim bound with rope, tape, and/or zipties (it's not just the cops that use those)? Knife. Need to remove part of a person's clothing to be able to render life-saving first-aid before the paramedics can arrive? Knife.

Hell yeah. For over thirty years now, I go everywhere (everywhere they'll let me, anyway) with the same Swiss Army knife. It's held up very well over the decades.