Tactical flashlights giving false sense of security?

[M@elstrom]

Most People don't realize but regular security guards have same powers as private citizens do. Except specialized security like nuclear power plant etc. Security guards are there to moostly detect deter and report, if something serious happens we must call cops, however there are very few exception when you can use force. Security company's are pretty clear about that when they hire people. I work at Microsoft security by the way.

Depends on which Country you're in... but essentially the client has bestowed on you their rights to protect their property, essentially a few more rights than just average Joe on the street :thumbsup:

My personal experience with security company's is that they all pretty much suck, i have been with three different ones and they all the same, managers come and go all the time, officers turn over rate is very high. I work contracted in Redmon for Microsoft, now you would think that Microsoft, such a high profile company would have decent security, not the case at all.

Dude please consider Operational Security... way too much information!

There was a vid from a dash-cam several months ago on YouTube. An officer was confronted by a violent man who jumped him. On the vid, the officer was reaching for a weapon. (Can't recall if it was his baton or pepper-spray. Possibly even his sidearm). Problem was, the guy was right on top of the officer. The officer kept reaching for a weapon on his duty belt. And every time he did, the guy just kept pounding on the officer's head and face! The officer didn't even attempt any empty-hand techniques to at least get the guy off of him, so that he could create enough distance (even a few feet) in order to have enough time to get his spray, baton, or gun out. Lucky for him, his attacker seemed too busy beating on him to even try to go for the officer's gun. It was ridiculous!

On the tape, the officer seemed genuinely surprised that every time he reached down to his duty belt, he got pounded! He just stood in front of the hood of his cruiser, trying to reach for a weapon, and failing miserably due to not initially creating enough distance to have enough time to actually pull out a weapon. The only thing that saved the officer from being beaten to a pulp was a Good Samaritan who stepped in and tackled the attacker.

I'm not familiar with that footage but you'd think a decent lateral thrust towards the aggressors' chest to try and send them off balance (dependant on their stance, mass, environment & condition) might buy sufficient time/distance to retrieve a weapon... anything that capitalized on gross motor functioning? even a 'head butt' (as unprofessional as it looks) would be a fair response if the chips were down IMHO

 

[Lightraven]

Monocrom, that first quote from me wasn't directed at anything you wrote. I just don't like to single people out by quoting them and then arguing the quote.

But I'll play devil's advocate to my own statement. . .

I've used a baton in a gunfight scenario. I've used "pepper" spray in a knife attack scenario.

In the first instance, I got the most severe lecture I've received since my academy days. Considering the source, it doesn't keep me awake at night, though.

In both cases, my solution, in retrospect, to use pepper spray and baton (before and after using my gun, respectively) was tactically sound based on the circumstances. Things don't go the way they are "supposed" to. That's why it's a fight and not ballet. You improvise and think on your feet.

In the two examples of officers I gave, each had time to decide if and how to approach a situation. In neither case was the officer attacked until they tried to arrest the knife wielder.

Both acted courageously in the best tradition of LE. One died a hero, but because he died off-duty, will never be remembered the way our fallen on-duty officers are. His sacrifice became a learning point when my class out of the academy was taken to the spot where he died. It's why I carry my gun 24/7 and dealt successfully (and non-violently) with a knife wielder off duty--whose facial expression went from homicidal rage to terrified as she saw that my gun trumped her carving knife.

Tonight, I arrested a drunk thief with a sharp screwdriver in his pocket. I thought about the weapons I was holding when I grabbed him--baton and pepper spray and First Light Liberator. Those are probably the first things I'd have used if he'd decided to whip out the screwdriver instead of his . . .well, let's just say he'd had a lot to drink and wanted relief right there.

 

[Monocrom]

Monocrom, that first quote from me wasn't directed at anything you wrote. I just don't like to single people out by quoting them and then arguing the quote.

Sorry if I created any sort of misunderstanding. I knew what you posted wasn't directed at me. And my intent was not to argue with you. I simply wanted to clarify, based on my self-defense training, some of the points you brought up. Yes, there are self-defense instructors who think that dealing with a knifer is a simple matter of applying proper technique. They teach empty-hand techniques that would get people killed, if applied in the real world.