PlanetMace Blog

Are police batons really necessary in law enforcement or do they just increase the risk of violence?

There have been many an occasion when I see a police officer in the streets and I ask myself the question, does law enforcement really need police batons for self defense on the streets of the UK or are there other forms of self defense equipment they could use?

When looking at this argument, there are many things to consider. Is crime and violence in Britain at a critical point in which every officer is unsafe without some form of self defense item? Are there other devices such as tasers or stun guns which can be just as effective and cause less permanent damage and are they being used correctly by the police officers?

If you look at the statistics of violence in the U.K. over the last 10 years, there is no denying that violent crime is growing every year, and the job of law enforcement is becoming more difficult and unsafe every year. The amount of officers that were injured or even killed by a person under the influence of alcohol, or just by an unstable citizen, in the last couple of years speak for themselves. Some officers have been confronted by hooligans with knives, baseball bats, or even guns. I think the least they should be given is something to protect themselves with against these people, and having police batons included in their uniforms gives them a belief that they can defend and apprehend any criminals they encounter. If not used with extreme force- of which permanent damage could be caused to an individual, officers that are trained with the correct defensive use of batons are perfectly suitable for monitoring the streets of Britain.

When you look into other forms of defense law enforcement could use, the obvious choice would be a stun gun or a taser as they cause an electric charge to surge through the body of a person to paralyze them for enough time for them to be detained. There is enough voltage to paralyze them but not enough to cause any permanent injuries, but the cost of equipping each officer or even every few officers with one would be expensive and would reduce the amount of money the law has to spend on other forms of protection by a significant amount. Another form of defense would be OC aerosol canisters but they carry the risk of cross-contamination and are unsafe.

I believe that when you look at the violence of British streets and the inexpensive costs of a baton, they are definitely necessary in law enforcement.