By Ralph Mroz
Most officers, whether they are in uniform or plain clothes, carry a folding knife while on duty and many also carry a folder while off-duty for self-defense. The ability to use a folder for any kind of self-defense, though, is limited by its access and opening mechanics. One of the few things that all knife experts agree on is that a fixed-blade knife is far superior to a folder for any kind of hard-use or fast-into-action application. Self defense is certainly the latter, and can often be the former.
A fixed-blade knife isn’t something new to law enforcement. It’s not unusual to see uniformed officers whose beats are wilderness areas carrying fixed-blade knives on their Sam Browns, uniformed officers carrying flat “boot knives” strapped to their calves, and plain-clothes and undercover officers relying on neck knives and other fixed-blades. What is new though – at least relatively new – are the following three things:
1) the plethora of high-quality knives now available, many marketed as suitable for law enforcement self-defense
2) the emergence of LE-specific designs, many designed by cops
3) the availability of high-quality information on the use of knives (fixed-blades in particular) in a law-enforcement context
Let’s look at these factors in reverse order, and let me make clear here that we’re talking about small, concealable, fixed-blade knives, not large ones.
Information on how to use a knife for self-defense purposes is now widely available – there’s probably a martial arts school teaching good knife technique in every town with a population of 10,000 or more people. When I started out in the early eighties, this information had to be tracked down and you were lucky to find it. Not so now. Many good knife instructors can be found writing and advertising in the law enforcement periodicals and websites (such as Police1.) Many of these instructors – Hoch Hocheim, for example – are either cops or former cops (Hoch is a retired Texas officer and a very serious street-practical martial artist and Filipino knife practitioner). Some, such as George Williams, distinguish themselves by their concentration on the legal and policy aspects of knife use in law enforcement, as well as their excellent instruction in knife technique. Southnarc is the nom de plume of an assistant commander of a drug task force in the Southeast. His real name isn’t secret, but until he retires he prefers to stay low-key.
Southnarc routinely carries two knives of his own design on his person in addition to his firearms, and he has developed some very insightful views on their location and deployment. He has also developed what I regard as the leading-edge extremely close quarter shooting technique. His videos on this subject, videos about knives and their use, and information on his custom knife designs are available on his website. Southnarc believes that all self-defense knives (fixed or folding) need to be carried forward of the hip bones, and should be accessible by the articulation of only the elbow joint. If you don’t believe him, don your dull training knife in your usual location, then get down on the ground and into a serious no-rules wrestling match, and try accessing your knife. Further, knife instruction is now commonly available at tactical conferences and even at law enforcement trade shows.
My organization – the Police Officers Safety Association – also has a two-hour program on the subject that’s available for free by download or for token fee on DVD. Bottom line: if you want to know how to use a knife effectively, there is a wealth of information available to you.
Knives designed specifically for law enforcement are now hitting the market. I’m talking about fixed-blade self-defense knives optimized for law-enforcement carry and use here. I’ve already addressed the issue of law-enforcement specific utility and rescue knives (See the related article links below).
Related articles:
Do police officers need knives?
Choosing a tactically sound rescue knife
 In extreme close quarters encounters where a suspect is attempting to take an officer’s handgun, or an officer cannot access his handgun, the TDI knife is available as a “last option” knife. (Image courtesy of KA-BAR Knives, Inc.) |
KA-BAR’s Tactical Defense Institute Law Enforcement knife has been a screaming success since it was introduced just a couple years ago. Designed by Ohio SWAT team commander John Benner, this clever knife is meant to be worn on a uniformed officer’s inner belt, and just behind the magazine pouches. Its black color and curved handle make it very difficult to spot, but it’s instantly available to draw. Of course it can also be worn in the same location by a plain-clothes or off-duty officer. Worn in its recommended off-side appendix position, it satisfies Southnarc’s criteria noted above.
Everything involves trade-offs. George Williams points out that a fixed blade knife that’s worn in a visible position is also instantly available to an assailant. There are counters to George’s argument of course, and counters to the counters. Perhaps something that everyone can agree on is that almost all weapons carry involves some trade-offs, and that’s it’s always a risk management problem, not a risk elimination situation.
On the heels of the TDI Law Enforcement knife’s success, KA-BAR introduced another John Benner design, the TDI Ankle knife. This knife comes with a nicely-designed sheath and Velcro straps so that it can be comfortably worn just above the ankle or on the outside of a boot. It is very well designed for this mode of carry. Joe Maffei, a mixed martial artist and UFC-style coach, has developed a ground-fighting system for law enforcement that’s based on an ankle-carried back-up gun and not on superior ground-fighting skill, which cops are less unlikely to posses (Joe calls his system “beer belly friendly”). It works equally well with an ankle-carried knife, with the TDI Ankle Knife just perfect for this job.
Of course, just about any knife can be a formidable weapon – in skilled hands certainly, and in unskilled hands most likely. Neck knives have been around for a long time, and they are very useful weapons. Their drawback is that they require an open-bottom shirt and they can’t be reliably accessed unless you’re standing or sitting upright. The Cold Steel Super Edge and the Columbia River Knife & Tool Crawford Triumph N.E.C.K. knives are examples of high-quality, commonly available neck knives. There are many others.
There are many small fixed-blade knives available on the market these days, and they all make fine self-defense weapons. The key to using them effectively is to either use or rig a carry system so that they are both 1) concealable and 2) easily accessed in the middle of a hands-on fight. I prefer the off-side appendix position favored by Southnarc, which works best when the knife is worn horizontally. Very few sheaths come from the manufacturer set up for horizontal carry, so rigging up a carry system is usually necessary. Fortunately, most factory sheaths these days are synthetic and riveted together. They usually have several holes along their long sides, and with a little para-cord a suitable carry mechanism can be improvised. Also, many knives come with a Blade-Tech Tek-Lok as the belt/sheath attachment mechanism, and this combination can usually be easily configured for horizontal carry (sometimes you’ll have to drill new holes in the sheath, but that’s easy.) The Spyderco Fred Perrin-designed Street Beat is a great example of a small fixed-blade knife that’s design-optimized for self-defense. It comes with a Tek-Lok, and I easily modified the system for horizontal carry. Likewise, the above-mentioned KA-BAR TDI Ankle Knife can be set-up for horizontal carry, and it is eminently suitable for concealed self-defense when carried this way.
Pocket carry is another option for small fixed-blades. The downside of pocket carry of course, is that access is somewhat constrained. Pocket-carried, small sheath knives can be easily set up for a fast draw stroke by tethering the bottom of the sheath to a fixed point, such as the belt. When the knife is drawn, the sheath moves with and attached to the knife until the tether limit is reached, at which point the knife pops out of its sheath. You’ll have to experiment with this a bit to find the right combination of pocket and tether length, but usually a good solution can be had.
Bottom line: fixed-blade knives are indeed superior in every way to folders for self-defense. With the selection available today of small fixed-blade knives, you can easily carry one if you choose to.