Looking for another nonlethal way to take down suspects, the Anderson Police Department decided to go the way of the dragon.
The police force in the Northern California town of about 10,000 people plans to equip its 20 officers with nunchakus, also known as nunchucks.
Basically, they’re what martial arts legend Bruce Lee used – besides his fists of fury and feet — to take down all those bad guys in his movies.
The police department was looking for a versatile tool that would limit injuries to officers and the people they detained – but that would still be an effective means of subduing an unruly suspect. Anderson’s top brass decided nunchakus were the way to go, said Sgt. Casey Day.
“It gives us the ability to control a suspect instead of striking them,” he said.
Of course, if you’ve watched enough Lee movies you’ll notice that he didn’t use nunchakus to pacify his enemies. He beat them up with them. But Anderson police insist they can detain someone with them in a relatively peaceful way.
On the website of the nunchakus’ manufacturer, Orcutt Police Defensive Systems Inc., the restraint technique is demonstrated. It shows a male officer using the nunchakus to grip the ankle of a man who is kicking his foot toward the officer’s face. The photo also depicts a female officer using them to hold a man’s wrist.
The weapon, or tool, is often made of two wooden sticks or bars tethered together by a metal chain. (Developed by retired Colorado police Sgt. Kevin Orcutt in the 1980s, the Anderson Police Department’s nunchakus are made of a hard plastic connected by a nylon cord designed to wrap around wrists and ankles). Wielded by martial arts experts, nunchakus can be used in complicated motions to fight off attackers. In the movies, including some of Lee’s, the occasional bad guy who gets the bright idea of trying to use it himself usually whacks himself in the face.
Day was recently certified to train the department’s officers on the proper use of the nunchakus. He wants officers to have another option besides the baton, a traditional impact weapon. Officers won’t be required to use nunchakus, he said. But if officers decide to use them, they must pass a 16-hour training program.
Day, a 15-year police veteran, said he has given up his baton for nunchakus.
“I see the value and the safety they bring to me,” he said, adding that nunchakus provide a distance between an officer and a suspect.
Sure, he was skeptical at first, Day said. But once he used the nunchakus, he was sold.
The pincher-style nunchakus became popular in the police community in the 1980s, said Greg Meyer, a use-of-force expert and former Los Angeles Police Department training captain. Anaheim, San Diego and the LAPD are just some of the agencies that have used them– at least for a while.
Some law enforcement agencies stopped using nunchakus when officers improperly used them — in some cases resulting in broken wrists, he said.
In 1991, the LAPD agreed to stop using nunchakus at protests– a decision sparked by a federal lawsuit filed by anti-abortion activists.
The department opted to settle the lawsuit following the March 3 beating of Rodney G. King, which happened that same year. At the time, Deputy City Atty. Jack Brown, who was representing the LAPD, said the department was concerned about the public perception over using nunchakus to subdue people.
Day hasn’t used his nunchakus, but is confident he will use them properly.
“I don’t go around looking for trouble,” he said.
Neither did Bruce Lee.
Twitter: @VeronicaRochaLA
I hope the idiots knock the hell out of themselves. As if batons weren’t bad enough, now these gestapos goons will have new toys to maim the masses.
The pigs can keep their sticks on a chain. I’ll keep my sidearm.
You beat me to it!
We also need to develop and maintain superior skill with our weapons. A good standard is being able to consistently make 50-yard shots on a paper plate with a handgun. Trust me, this is very doable with good trigger control and a consistent grip.
You’re right BMF …. most people practice at 30 40 Feet in a controlled environment.
I have water bottles across my canyon about a football field away.
I’m coming about 3 feet away from them.
Plus I don’t aim… I just look and pull.
Its definitely a skill that you need practice to develop.
You must become one with gun weedhoppers.
I know kung fu.
Great, now the numbnuts will have nunchucks. All the better to beat you with as they yell “stop resisting”.
I hope we get a lot of videos of these idiots whacking themselves in the head while pretending to be Bruce Lee.
LOL, exactly. Nunchakus aren’t any more of a threat to the public than other blunt force weapons, but they’re more likely to cause self-injury to a pig who uses them.
Numchucks… is what I call them. Cause if you get hit in the head by them you will go numb. They were originally used by asian farmers Japanese etc… to break rice off the stalks… grain etc..in the field.
Some of the best weapons were common day tools used from farmers for daily survival. That’s why the grim reaper is always pictured with a scythe. To cut down and harvest souls.
Man I would run like hell if someone came at me with a scythe. 🙂
“Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting.Those kicks were fast as lightning.
In fact, it was a little bit frightening
But they fought with expert timing
There was funky China men from funky Chinatown
They were chopping them up
They were chopping them down
It’s an ancient Chinese art”
“Looking for another nonlethal way to take down suspects, the Anderson Police Department decided to go the way of the dragon.”
BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! Looking for a “nonlethal way to take down suspects”? Are you F**king kidding me?
As someone who has studied martial arts for years, I can without a doubt say that nunchakus are anything BUT “nonlethal”. There’s a reason why many states such as NY and MA make it illegal to have nunchakus unless they are foam nunchakus. All it takes is one good whack at the skull and you can knock a person dead.
Remember: Speed equals Power. Simple physics. Nunchakus are about as nonlethal as someone smashing your face with a Louisville Slugger. Actually, they are much worse.
“But Anderson police insist they can detain someone with them in a relatively peaceful way.”
Translation: “They’ll still be breathing (barely), and there won’t be any bullet holes in them.”
A wood shampoo!!
Now with more suds!!.
What’s funny is that most of these fat tub of lard cops won’t even know how to use nunchakus and they’ll swing back and hit them in their face. The joke will be on them and I’ll be standing there watching and laughing my ass off as they cry, “OUCH!!!!! My head! Why don’t these things work right?”