Mandatory Knife Training?

Mandatory Knife Training?

I posted this question on Linkedin a while back to try and guage what others outside of Colorado had to say:

Should there be mandatory training and certification with offensive edged weapons before they are allowed to carry a knife on duty? What are the pros and cons, liability wise? Currious to see what others within in CO and out are thinking.

 

Here are some of the responses:

 

 

 

--- Cecil Richardson, CAS, MM, CPI •As a Police Supervisor I was laughed at and complained on by the FOP bacause my stance on officers carrying knives. My reasoning was two fold. 1st: many of the officers thought they knew how to fight with a knife, they watched all the youtube videos, and some even took a one hour class, but in the end none knew the fine art of knife fighting, much less practiced it. 2nd: All of them carried these super neat military grade flip knives, kept secure by simply a clip over the pants cloth. We spend hundreds of dollars on holsters with secured latches, because we know the dangers of the bad guy getting the gun, but are quite happy with the knowledge that the very same bad guy has no clue how to slid a knife off your pants? be real! Quit the joke of saying it is not a weapon, but a safety tool! it is a knife, it is meant to stab and cut! IT IS A WEAPON! and as such, we need to have skills and training to use it.

 

----Ruben Alvarez •Absolutely there should be training and certification! In fact, there should be a standard knife for every department. If it's going on the duty belt, it needs to be standard. Officers don't carry their firearm of choice, nor do they carry after market batons or canisters of OC spray. Cecil makes great points about all the non-standard training available, as well as the need for proper weapon retention. Additionally, the creation of standards for knife types AND carrying procedures is paramount. A folding knife offers slightly more reaction time versus a straight blade if it is taken from the officer. Also, placement on the duty belt is important as you wouldn't want to have one hand on your firearm and the other on your knife as this would leave you defenseless to other attacks.

 

----Wayne Blackard •I would love to have standardized training for knives. However I am not sure at this point what training I am willing to give up to include knife training in our program. There are only so many hours of training and dollars in a training budget available.

We are allowed to carry our choice of firearm from an approved list, as are thousands of officers around the country. We are allowed to carry our choice of baton from an approved list. And we are allowed to carry our choice of knife as long as it is in compliance with the general orders. My agency lists the knife as a required tool and not a weapon. There is plenty of case law protecting an officer should he/she need to deploy a knife or any other object as a deadly weapon. This of course is reliant on officers and administrators being up to date on use of force case law, another training day.

I believe if you carry it you should train with it. But that does not mesh with my reality of budgets and scheduling. I was fortunate enough to attend a folding knife course through Cutting Edge Training years ago. Good training that I believe would help officers understand their limitations and advantages. I encourage my folks to seek this training out but unfortunately is generally on their own time and at their own expense.