New Met police video

[Fedster + 1,307]

Force to issue longer batons next month in a bid to improve officer safety.

The baton gives officers greater distance between themselves and would be assailants

Date - 17th September 2019
By - Chris Smith

2 Comments

 

Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick has confirmed that from next month 19,000 positive lock batons are being issued to all frontline police officers.  

The announcement in a radio interview coincided with a week-long initiative across the country to tackle knife crime.

All officers will be issued with the Bonowi Camlock baton which is available to all forces on a national framework and is already used by some other forces in the UK.

The new batons will give officers greater distance from violent criminals at a time when the number of assaults on police are rising.

Met officers have the choice between two different batons: the gravity friction lock baton and the public order level 2 acrylic baton.  Most officers choose the gravity friction lock baton as its concertina action makes it more practical.

A Met spokesman told Police Oracle: ““The baton is slightly longer, increasing the effective range, and also as a positive lock baton there is a lower risk of it collapsing during use. The roll out will begin in October, and it is planned for all frontline operational officers to receive them.”

The new 26-inch batons will cost just over £2million and the procurement decision was signed off by the Greater London Assembly last year.

Its report explained: “In terms of tactics, particularly in regard to the nature of the threat, enabling all officers to have the longer positive lock baton, rather than the gravity friction lock baton, means that officers can maintain greater distance between them and the aggressor. Greater distance means that the safety of the officer is increased, as is the safety of the public.”

The Commissioner said the move was part of a strategy to improve officer protection. There would be a further increase from the current 6,500 Tasers issued by the force but she said the Met would not issue them to all officers as other constabularies have done.

Dame Cressida said: "About 20% of my people have said in a survey they don't really want to carry Taser, thank you very much.

"It is a very powerful bit of kit, it is also potentially a very dangerous bit of kit. You've got to be a really good decision-maker, you've got to be really fit."

View On Police Oracle

[Sir Penguin 648]

3 hours ago, Fedster said:

Met officers have the choice between two different batons: the gravity friction lock baton and the public order level 2 acrylic baton.  Most officers choose the gravity friction lock baton as its concertina action makes it more practical.

The way this reads is that officers from the Met are able to decide whether they want to use their PSU baton or friction lock baton on standard patrol. Can any met officers clarify whether this is the case? 

We are definitely not allowed to use our PSU baton out of a public order environment and only when authorised.

We've been on 26" friction lock batons for as long as I've known. What size did the Met use prior to this? 

[David + 4,981]

At the risk of causing sniggers, I don't see what that extra few inches is going to achieve. Do not misunderstand me, absolutely I'd prefer officers to be issued the longest available against a shorter option because I don't think they make any sense at all, but will officers start a potential false sense of security? When faced with a determined assailant, those extra few inches won't buy anything.

Nonetheless, as I say, I absolutely support issuing the longest available option.

[Shmook + 532]

I agree, a slightly longer baton won't make any difference. 

In a scrap, you won't be judging at your best, and gross motor skills are the norm. Wailing around with a baton seems more common than actually stopping and focusing on striking with the tip. If someone is closing on you fast, the extra length won't help. 

 

This seems to me to be focusing on the wrong thing. Could this not be better spent on OST training, or issuing more tasers (I don't want to start the whole 'taser isn't the be all and end all'...)? 

Edited September 18, 2019 by Shmook
Autocorrect got me

[Jeebs + 1,192]

Hopefully now the met have purchased a decent baton, the ESP friction locks will become a thing of the past across the rest of the UK.

I know WYP used to issue the Benowi, but I think even they now issue the ESP.

The best baton I ever carried was the Manadnock Autolock, well and truly capable of putting people out of action with a good wallop. Anecdotally, broken bones were quite common if a good strike was landed.

From a recent training course, I’m led to believe certain forces don’t issue Arnold batons for PSU because the issue camlock batons, which because they posi lock can be used for PSU and mutual aid duties.

[Beaker 817]

49 minutes ago, Jeebs said:

Hopefully now the met have purchased a decent baton, the ESP friction locks will become a thing of the past across the rest of the UK.

We've been told recently we're getting new batons, but they said that in 2017 and we're still issuing ESPs. 

[Buck + 293]

11 hours ago, Beaker said:

We've been told recently we're getting new batons, but they said that in 2017 and we're still issuing ESPs. 

Yeh but this time they've actually ordered them. Will start to be rolled out before the end of the year I believe and then you'll get yours at your next OST after that time.

[Beaker 817]

15 minutes ago, Buck said:

Yeh but this time they've actually ordered them. Will start to be rolled out before the end of the year I believe and then you'll get yours at your next OST after that time.

Awesome.  Someone gave me a brand new ESP, and said I should be using it.  It's in my locker because when I racked it to see if it worked it failed 2 out of 3 times.

[Cs! + 88]

On 17/09/2019 at 22:40, Sir Penguin said:

The way this reads is that officers from the Met are able to decide whether they want to use their PSU baton or friction lock baton on standard patrol. Can any met officers clarify whether this is the case? 

We've been on 26" friction lock batons for as long as I've known. What size did the Met use prior to this? 

In the Met , you can only carry your public order baton when deployed on public order duties. 

The current baton size is 21"

[Sapor62 + 28]

Not sure why the Commissioner is making it sounds as though we can use our arnold batons on a normal shift, that hasn't been the case for quite some time, although I am aware some people do this to try and look "old sweat" but generally get dragged off their high horse by actual old sweats.

Our current batons are 21" and depending on when you were issued the baton you'd have either an ASP, Monadnock or deenside friction lock. These new camlock batons are incredible and the roll out starts soon on AW sector, with other boroughs following soon after.