baton carry methods back in the old days.

[Jeremy571]

Hello Jeremy 571 here. I was thinkin the other day, It must have been a real pain for officers back in the old days to carry both their rigid straight batons. or PR-24, and a maglite, or kel-lite hangin down rite beside it. Seems like a real pain in the butt havin to run with both those pieces of gear bangin off each other and whackin the officer in the leg. It's no wonder so many officers left their batons in the car back then. I remember when i was a kid our small town department had the 26 inch hickory batons, and they carried them along side the front seat, and they would fall out sometimes when they got out. I am interested in hearing from some of you older officers, and current officers on how you carried your rigid batons, and flashlites on your belt. I am assuming you guys musta had to take one or the other off your belt while chasing a subjust on foot.? Interesting....

[txinvestigator1]

I never carried both a baton, whether it was straight, PR24 or otherwise, and a flashlight on my belt. I almost always carried a baton of some type, but the flashlight was carried in hand or in a back pocket. We also did not carry mag lights etc., ours were a polymer rechargable type.

We also did not have TASERs. I carried, from 12 o'clock and clockwise; Keeper, handgun, keeper, nothing in back. At about 8 o'clock was handcuff (double pouch with hinged and chain cuffs) keeper, radio, baton, magazines, keeper.

[Gutwrench]

We were required to carry a baton and it complicated things in a use of force review if you didn't have it. I remember the straight stick days, those were a pain in the arse. Glad to see the calaspable batons come into use. I carried a calaspable pr24 and a rechargeable Mag Lite everywhere, day or night. The Mag Lite was probably the most used piece of equipment I carried. Foot pursuits are always a pain due to equipment but otherwise I never found the equipment to be much of a problem.

The Mag was always in my left hand, leg pocket, or left rear pocket when in BDUs.

[Ispbear]

I had a PR24 and kept the holder on my belt. The PR stayed between the passenger seat and headrest and I only grabbed it when getting out of the car for bar fights, etc.

[retdetsgt]

We had a holder on the car door for the night stick, we would pull it off and put it in the ring on our belt as we got out. I kept my flashlight on the left side of the driver's seat and put it in the sap pocket on my uniform pants leg. Biggest problem we had was our lack of decent training with the nightstick.

[icu650]

I usually carried the nightstick in my left hand when I went out to eat.

[Samuel]

[JohnKelly]

Ah, I guess you are referring to the days of the square jawed Irish Cops twirling their batons while on foot patrol.

That was well before the days of the 'Equipment Belt' where police officers are now weighed down with a massive amount of gear.

[Samuel]

re: olden days

[G35 Mass]

Ah, I guess you are referring to the days of the square jawed Irish Cops twirling their batons while on foot patrol.

That was well before the days of the 'Equipment Belt' where police officers are now weighed down with a massive amount of gear.

My belt without gun is 12 pounds. And I don't have a taser.

[retdetsgt]

My belt without gun is 12 pounds. And I don't have a taser.

Wow. My first gun belt had a holster, a leather loop ammo holder that held 6 rounds, a ring for my nightstick and a handcuff case w/ handcuffs. Didn't have to worry about pesky things like hand held radios.....

Of course, it was all male, minimum height and weight was 5-10, 160 and we didn't have to worry about citizens with video cameras either! If you get my drift......

[cntryboy0531]

My belt without gun is 12 pounds. And I don't have a taser.

I weighed mine with gun and radio. All of my crap on it puts mine at 28lbs. I didn't put my mag light style flashlight on it either, which sits in a flashlight ring. Figure 30lbs with the light.

[icu650]

Wow. My first gun belt had a holster, a leather loop ammo holder that held 6 rounds, a ring for my nightstick and a handcuff case w/ handcuffs.

You forgot the clip for the Acme Thunderer whistle and the handcuff key. We also had a signal light key that would open the big silver box to put the traffic lights on yellow caution.

[mcsap]

My first duty belt had.....

1. Ruger Service Six .38/.357 revolver w a 4 inch barrel.
2. Two 6 round speedloaders.
3. Handcuffs.
4. Portable radio. ( 2 channel)
5. A ring for my PR-24 but I usually didn't carry it.

( and I didn't wear a vest because most officers just didn't)

My last duty belt had....

1. Glock 23 in .40
2. One extra clip ( they gave us two but I am a great shot
3. Handcuffs
4. Portable radio with corded mic.( gazillion channels)
5. Pouch for rubber gloves.
6. Holster for a tazer.
7. Expandable baton

I have always worn a vest since I bought my first one in 1988.

[retdetsgt]

You forgot the clip for the Acme Thunderer whistle and the handcuff key. We also had a signal light key that would open the big silver box to put the traffic lights on yellow caution.

Heh, only our traffic guys carried whistles. They were on a chain attached to their shoulder epaulet and then in the shirt pocket. It was almost like an extra badge to them..... We had nothing to control traffic lights..... Sometimes I wish we did though.