Effective, Safe & Overlooked Way For Police To Stop Aggressive Mentally Ill Attackers

There are far too many unfortunate police shootings and killing of mentally ill attackers wielding a knife, machete or other dangerous object. Police officers certainly have a right to protect themselves when they are about to be violently attacked. More and more police officers in the US and around the world are sick and tired of being the city’s social workers – dealing with people in mental health distress when there is no actual crime taking place. In England they seem to be doing it right. Patience and the use of a body shield can effectively de-escalate a confrontation and avoid unnecessary use of police force. It is almost impossible for a trained police officer to be injured when properly using the shield. And a civilian life is saved. Why are these methods not being used in the US and Canada? This short video displays an example.

Technically these shields are called riot shields, used to control public violence, but they can also be used in these circumstances. The shield is light weight and long enough to cover the officer from head to knees. They originally were introduced in England and Wales following the 1976 Notting Hill Carnival riot when many police officers were injured by thrown bricks and bottles.

The shields are “typically made out of transparent polycarbonate between 4–6 millimetres (0.16–0.24 in) in thickness. Shields are designed to be shatter resistant, though are typically not ballistic resistant.” The shield “is designed primarily as a defensive weapon, though it can be used in an offensive manner when in direct contact with protesters. They are designed to be affixed to the non-dominant arm and held at a slightly inward angle to deflect thrown objects into the ground.”

UK de-escalation training with body shield: 32 minutes 54 seconds – 35 minutes 34 seconds

Another solution from Lester England: 37 minutes 5 seconds – 39 minutes 27 seconds

Citation

Riot Shield https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_shield

Related Posts

Inside The Mind Of A Police Officer https://www.mybestbuddymedia.com/2019/06/inside-mind-of-police-officer.html

Invisible Wounds of the Aching Blue https://www.mybestbuddymedia.com/2020/10/invisible-wounds-of-aching-blue_3.html

7 Cops 16 Comments https://www.mybestbuddymedia.com/2020/06/7-cops-16-comments.html

Photo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_shield

Jerry De Luca is a Christian freelance writer who loves perusing dozens of interesting and informative publications. When he finds any useful info he summarizes it, taking the main points, and creates a (hopefully) helpful blog post.