ANDERSON, Calif. (AP) — A rural Northern California police department wanted a versatile tool to take down suspects while limiting injuries to officers and the people they detained. It chose nunchucks.
Anderson Police officers won’t be required to use the weapon, often made of two sticks or bars tethered together and popularized by martial arts film star Bruce Lee and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise. But, if officers decide to use them, they must pass a 16-hour training program.
“It gives us the ability to control a suspect instead of striking them,” Sgt. Casey Day told the Los Angeles Times.
The nunchucks police will use are made of hard plastic connected by a nylon cord designed to wrap around a suspect’s wrist or ankles, the paper reports.
Day was recently certified to train the department’s 20 officers on the proper use of the nunchucks, also known as nunchacku sticks.
On the website of the nunchakus’ manufacturer, Orcutt Police Defensive Systems Inc., the restraint technique shows an officer using the nunchakus to grip the ankle of a man who is kicking his foot toward the officer’s face. The graphic also depicts an officer using them to hold a man’s wrist.
Los Angeles, Anaheim and San Diego are some of the other agencies that have used them — for a time.
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.
Day hasn’t used his nunchakus, but is confident he will use them properly.
“I don’t go around looking for trouble,” he said.
