Were American policemen ever "issued" a knife ?

Frozen Bear Trading

Frozen Bear Trading

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Like the military gets issued a specific gun made for them or pants ect.

Have the American police ever had a knives made just for them?

Not looking for one just feeding my curious side.
 
Not me.

I was issued a variety of equipment during my LEO career, including (but not limited to) a gun & mags, handcuffs, a radio, pepper spray, a collapsible metal baton, 2 wooden batons (short & long), a bullet resistant vest, a respiratory mask for CPR and a duty belt, holster, mag holder and sheaths to hold all of those things in on the belt (except for the vest) but never a knife.

LOL! ;)
 
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sgt1372 said:
Not me.

I was issued a variety of equipment during my LEO career, including (but not limited to) a gun & mags, handcuffs, a radio, pepper spray, a collapsible metal baton, 2 wooden batons (short & long), a bullet resistant vest, a respiratory mask for CPR and a duty belt, holster, mag holder and sheath to hold all of those things in on the belt (except for the vest) but never a knife.

LOL! ;)
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WOW that is a long list!

Great question OP and I am very interested to find out if any where and if so which model!
 
John A. Larsen said:
There are reportedly something like 18,000 Federal, State, and Local police agencies , and between 700,000 to 850,000 sworn officers in the USA, so I would expect that some agency has issued a knife to its people. John
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That's a great point. I was thinking the same thing but wondered if a company ever made something specific for the police officers.
 
Without a definitive yes/no, I will say that a large portion of police in the U.S. are localized; city, county, borough, municipality, sheriff, even state: and as such, a large part of their funding is also often cut from a corresponding localized budget, so their "issued gear" could/would differ from unit to unit, sea to shining sea. Which hancuffs to buy, what flashlight, sidearm, vehicle(s), (what will the uniform and badge look like), is often figured into the local tax budget of the area a said police force serves and protects, and I could defintely imagine with thousands of police forces across the nation that some have managed to fit into their budget an issued duty knife....

Certainly not out of the realm of reality when you see some of the things that some police forces do spend money on...
 
John A. Larsen said:
There are reportedly something like 18,000 Federal, State, and Local police agencies , and between 700,000 to 850,000 sworn officers in the USA, so I would expect that some agency has issued a knife to its people. John
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I got issued a Benchmade Houdini pro, but never a knife.
 
What's with the Spyderco Police model? That knife has been shown on the TV show Cops. Can the police carry whatever knife they want, auto, fixed ect.?

Great question!
 
I would say that any "issue" knife would be more related to specialists (swiftwater rescue/divers) for a particular dept. A dept may have had an incident where a knife was needed so the chief may have made an order to get everyone a buck 110, or a spyderco delica. But as a whole, knives are not a police type thing, lots of cops have been through here over the years and I've never heard anyone refer to an issued knife. More often its "Now chief wiggam says we can carry a fixed, which weapon retention blade should I have" or "setting up a SAR bag, what big beefy heli-pad clearing chopper should I get" More stuff like that.
 
I've never heard of an "issued" knife for LEO. I can't see justification for that in the budget, and departments have enough liability issues already.

However, some depts do have a list of "approved" gear that officers can carry, and most officers do, in fact, carry a knife or some form of cutting tool to cut seatbelts, and to aid in weapon retention.
As far as autos, if it's legal, they can carry it, but autos aren't optimal for the job, and would come with the liability aspect in the public eye. Not worth the hassle.

I know a few local LEO that carry Benchmade and ZT folders, and one that carries a Kabar TDI.
 
John A. Larsen said:
There are reportedly something like 18,000 Federal, State, and Local police agencies , and between 700,000 to 850,000 sworn officers in the USA, so I would expect that some agency has issued a knife to its people. John
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strategy9 said:
Without a definitive yes/no, I will say that a large portion of police in the U.S. are localized; city, county, borough, municipality, sheriff, even state: and as such, a large part of their funding is also often cut from a corresponding localized budget, so their "issued gear" could/would differ from unit to unit, sea to shining sea. Which hancuffs to buy, what flashlight, sidearm, vehicle(s), (what will the uniform and badge look like), is often figured into the local tax budget of the area a said police force serves and protects, and I could defintely imagine with thousands of police forces across the nation that some have managed to fit into their budget an issued duty knife....

Certainly not out of the realm of reality when you see some of the things that some police forces do spend money on...
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specgrade said:
What's with the Spyderco Police model? That knife has been shown on the TV show Cops. Can the police carry whatever knife they want, auto, fixed ect.?

Great question!
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Please see the top two quotes.
 
strategy9 said:
Without a definitive yes/no, I will say that a large portion of police in the U.S. are localized; city, county, borough, municipality, sheriff, even state: and as such, a large part of their funding is also often cut from a corresponding localized budget, so their "issued gear" could/would differ from unit to unit, sea to shining sea. Which hancuffs to buy, what flashlight, sidearm, vehicle(s), (what will the uniform and badge look like), is often figured into the local tax budget of the area a said police force serves and protects, and I could defintely imagine with thousands of police forces across the nation that some have managed to fit into their budget an issued duty knife....

Certainly not out of the realm of reality when you see some of the things that some police forces do spend money on...
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I used to live near a plush town in NJ which had a great school system yet their residents would send their kids to private school.

They had a millitarized anti riot Hummer clad in armor plates. You know for when like the soccer moms get ornery and cut the pickup line for their kids at school.
 
cchu518 said:
I used to live near a plush town in NJ which had a great school system yet their residents would send their kids to private school.

They had a millitarized anti riot Hummer clad in armor plates. You know for when like the soccer moms get ornery and cut the pickup line for their kids at school.
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Probably got it for free or for very little, I think certain decommissioned military stuff was/is trickling down to the police this way.

At a local boot store they sell American made Buck knives (none of their imports), a very wide selection in fact exceeding most knife shops. Anyway I was talking to the owner and he was telling me some of the local fire departments issued the Bantam to their firefighters. No idea if that was the entire department or some of the captains coming in and buying them for their firefighters which I could see them doing as I've known a few local fire captains and I could see them doing this.

As for knives, some departments might issue something. Most probably don't.
 
Standard issue? No, I've never seen one, but I would bet small lots of this and that were probably bought. And I remember a big stink being made when a police department got a few batches of m-7 type bayonets given to them when they were surplused out by the military.

Various Federal Law Enforcement members have had small batches of knives made for them by members as quasi- official unit knives, most notabily the Border Patrol -

Randall Border Patrol # 14 -

H1193-L48245286.jpg
.

A custom maker named Don Weiler also made a model for the Border Patrol shown here -

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/weiler-yuma-border-patrol-knife-484007476 .
 
Cops that I know will purposely carry a junker Chinese knife. You don't want your grail cherry expensive knife to be dipped in blood, guts and dope all day and then carry it home to your family...
 
sgt1372 said:
Not me.

I was issued a variety of equipment during my LEO career, including (but not limited to) a gun & mags, handcuffs, a radio, pepper spray, a collapsible metal baton, 2 wooden batons (short & long), a bullet resistant vest, a respiratory mask for CPR and a duty belt, holster, mag holder and sheaths to hold all of those things in on the belt (except for the vest) but never a knife.

LOL! ;)
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Forgot to mention the riot helmet too. ROTFLMAO!!!

BTW, I still have all of this gear, except the gun & mags (and radio) which were duly returned. I bought my own gun to use on/off duty long b4 I retired and still have those too. :)
 
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