A truncheon or baton (also called a cosh , Paddy wacker , billystick , billy club , nightstick , sap , blackjack , stick ) is essentially a stick of less than arm's length, usually made of wood, plastic, or metal, and carried by law-enforcement, corrections, security, and (less often) military personnel for less lethal self-defense, as well as control and to disperse combative and non-compliant subjects. A truncheon may be used to strike, jab, block, and aid in the application of armlocks. Truncheons are used to a lesser extent by non-officials because of their easy concealment, and are outlawed in many jurisdictions. They are also frequently used to rescue people who are trapped—for instance, in cars or buildings that are on fire, by smashing windows and doors.
History
In the Victorian era, police in London carried truncheons about one foot long called bully clubs (from the word bully, a nickname for police officers). This developed into several varieties available today. The truncheon is a straightstick made from wood or a synthetic material, approximately 1.25 inches (32 mm) in diameter and 18–36 inches (460–910 mm) long, with a fluted handle to aid in gripping. Truncheons are often ornamented with their organizations' coats of arms. Longer truncheons are called "riot batons" because of their use in riot control.
Truncheons probably developed as a marriage between the club or mace and the staff of office or sceptre.
Straight batons of rubber have a softer impact. Some of the kinetic energy bends and compresses the rubber and bounces off when the object is struck. The Russian police standard-issue baton is rubber, except in places such as Siberia, cold enough that the rubber can become brittle and break if struck.
The traffic baton is red to make it more visible as a signaling aid in directing traffic. In Russia traffic batons are striped in black and white for the same reason.
Until the mid 1990s, British police officers carried traditional wooden truncheons of a sort that had changed little from Victorian times. After the early 1990s, forces replaced truncheons with side-handle and collapsible batons for all but ceremonial duties.
Theory and usage
Under most American law-enforcement agencies' and departments' use-of-force policies, a baton may be used when a firearm is inappropriate or unjustified but greater force is needed than can be provided by bare hands.
A police officer not equipped with a baton may be forced to choose between two extremes in responding to criminal assault: bare hands or firearms. Thus, the baton fills an intermediate role in the weapons available to peace officers, and gives flexibility to defend against physical attack proportionately.
If a police officer is fired upon by a suspect with a handgun from a distance of several meters, the officer's best option may be to seek cover and to return fire with his or her side arm. If an unarmed suspect passively resists arrest and is not actively assaulting the arresting officer, striking the suspect with a baton in order to gain compliance may be considered excessive force, depending on the use-of-force policy governing the officer.
Between these extremes (in terms of the threat posed to the officer), a baton would prove useful. If an unarmed suspect tried to attack an officer at arm's length, and the officer were smaller and weaker and couldn't defend against the suspect without using weapons, it would be fair and prudent for the officer to subdue the suspect with baton strikes to non-critical areas of the body. Baton strikes may be justified and ideal in an attack by several unarmed suspects.
Target areas
Before the 1970s, it was common for law enforcement in the United Kingdom to "brain" suspects (strike their heads) in order to stun them or knock them unconscious. However, this was unreliable and potentially fatal. Civil lawsuits and claims of police brutality resulted in better training for officers. In modern police training, it is not permitted to hit the skull, sternum, spine, or groin unless such an attack is unavoidable. The primary targets now are nerves, such as the common peroneal nerve, and large muscles, such as the quadriceps or biceps.
Comparison with other weapons
Hand-held impact weapons have some advantages over newer less lethal weapons. Batons are less expensive than Tasers to buy or to use, and carry none of the risk of cross-contamination of OC aerosol canisters (pepper spray) in confined areas. Tasers and OC canisters have limited ammunition, whereas batons do not.
Batons are higher on the use of force continuum than many other less-lethal weapons, as they are more likely to cause lasting or fatal injuries. Like Tasers and OC, batons are referred to as "less-lethal" rather than "non-lethal". These items are not designed to be fatal and almost never are, but it does happen: allergic reaction to pepper spray, blood clots from baton strikes, and head injuries from falling after being shocked by a Taser.
Baton designs
Batons in common use by police around the world include many different designs, such as fixed-length straight batons, blackjacks, fixed-length side-handle batons, collapsible straight batons, and other more exotic variations. All types have their advantages and disadvantages.
The design and popularity of specific types of baton have evolved over the years and are influenced by a variety of factors. These include inherent compromises in the dual (and competing) goals of control effectiveness and safety (for both officer and subject). Generally speaking, the more control a piece of equipment offers an officer, the less safe it is for the subject.
Straightstick
A straight, fixed-length baton (also commonly referred to as a "straightstick") is the oldest and simplest police baton design, known as far back as ancient Egypt. It consists of little more than a long cylinder with a molded, turned or wrapped grip, usually with a slightly thicker or tapering shaft and rounded tip. They are often made of hardwood, but in modern times are available in other materials such as aluminum, acrylic, or dense plastics. They range in size from short clubs less than a foot in length to long 36-inch (91 cm) "riot batons" common used in civil disturbances or by officers mounted on horseback.
Straightsticks tend to be heavier and have more weight concentrated in the striking end than other designs. This makes them less maneuverable, but theoretically would deliver more kinetic energy on impact. Most agencies have replaced the straightstick with other batons because of inconvenience to carry, and a desire for their officers to look less threatening to the community they serve. Despite having been replaced by side-handle and expandable batons in many (if not most) law enforcement agencies, it remains in use by many major departments in the US, such as the Baltimore, Denver, Sacramento, Long Beach, Santa Ana, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Riverside Police Departments, and are used by NYPD Auxiliary Police officers, as well as many Military Police forces around the world.
Blackjack
A blackjack is a small, easily-concealed club consisting of a leather-wrapped lead weight attached to the end of a leather-wrapped coil spring or rigid shaft, with a lanyard or strap on the end opposite the weight. Materials other than lead and leather are sometimes used to construct these weapons, but the design of a soft covering over a dense weighted core remain.
This weapon works by generating kinetic energy during a swing via the dense core, yet pads the impact with the covering so as to avoid lacerating the skin and lessening the chance of breaking bones. In this way, the blow is intended to be felt as a "jarring" impact that is painful and/or numbing. When directed at the head, it works by concussing the brain without cutting the scalp. This is meant to stun or knock out the subject.
Blackjacks were popular among law enforcement for a time due to their low profile and small size, and their potential to knock a suspect unconscious. However, blows to the head are also easily fatal or can cause permanent damage, and they have since become less common equipment.
A blackjack is sometimes referred to as a sap , which is the name for a weapon of similar design (also called a slapper, slap jack or beavertail sap ). A sap has a flat profile as opposed to a cylindrical one, but essentially works the same way.
"Blackjack" is also British English slang referring to an improvised weapon composed of a heavy object placed inside a sock. The same improvised weapon is referred to in American English slang as a "sap" or a "cosh".
Side-handle baton
Side-handle batons (sometimes referred to as T-batons) are batons with a short side handle at a right angle to the shaft, about six inches from one end. The main shaft is typically 24 inches (61 cm)
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^Real Police (2006). "ASP Extendable Baton". http://www.realpolice.net/ Real Police. http://www.realpolice.net/asp-baton.shtml. Retrieved 23 October 2007.
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