22July05

Good comments from a colleague in OH:

"(1) John, you'd need a sixty-inch waist to carry all that stuff (do n't take that as a challenge)!

(2) Be sure to remind everyone, no matter how much junk they have loaded onto their duty belt, to avoid having a hard object (like a cuff case) direc tly over their spine. Hard objects over the spine are an invitation to serious

injury.

(3) If officers are carrying both a Taser AND a handgun on their duty belt , how do they defend either/both from a gun grab? If a suspect goes for an officer's Taser, does he draw his sidearm and shoot? Does he employ a weapon-retention technique (involving both of his hands) that will leave his sidearm undefended? Does he put a hand on both and then head butt his opponent?

I have asked these questions of agencies who carry both, and have never received a credible answer. It is apparent to me that they have put the late st technology in the field and had not yet thought the issue through."

Comment: Good points, and I don't have good answers!

/John