The Importance of Comfort and Flexibility in Riot Suits
When municipalities approve resources to purchase tactical gear for law enforcement, the importance of flexible riot suits cannot be understated. Police officers are tasked with restoring peace and handcuffing violent offenders. When lawbreakers refuse arrest, the use of reasonable force must be employed even though felons tend to resist. In these critical moments, both party’s health, safety, and lives are at risk. Proper tactical gear can make a significant difference in the outcome.
How Do Flexible Riot Suits Keep Officers Safe?
No one prefers to avoid physical confrontations more than police officers. Often underpaid for the risk they take to keep community members safe, professional law enforcement personnel understand this is a job. It’s in no way personal. When dangerous criminals resist, officers are tasked with using less-than-lethal force when possible. These techniques require training, speed, and agility equal to the perpetrator.
Non-Lethal Riot Tools:
Although officers use de-escalation strategies to avoid physical confrontations, perpetrators sometimes refuse to comply. The situation can escalate in the blink of an eye. Patrol officers are equipped with batons, tasers, and pepper spray. How quickly a less-than-lethal tool is retrieved and used can be a matter of life and death.
Striking Techniques :
In most civil disturbances, the rioters are usually normal citizens that have gone too far. They typically use street-fighting strategies to avoid arrest. A punch to an officer’s mid-section could wind them without riot suit protection. But effective tactical gear must go beyond defensive protections. An assailant learns quickly the suits protect against body blows, and they target the neck and jaw. Police officers need riot suits with enhanced flexibility to implement striking techniques in self-defense in one-on-one situations.
Takedowns:
Assume a rioter or looter won’t politely turn around and put their hands behind their back. What civilians may not realize is that boots-on-the-ground officers often have to grapple those resisting arrest to the ground. Using techniques taught in jujitsu, wrestling, and mixed martial arts, officers need to bend, twist, and pivot into position. This requires the type of free movement karate practitioners enjoy wearing a loose-fitting Gi. If the riot suit restricts an officer, they could find themselves in grave danger.
Defensive Postures:
It’s not uncommon for a wanted felon to use blunt force weapons against peace officers. These typically involve baseball bats, 2×4 lumber, pipes, and other hand-held items that can be used to inflict bodily harm. Riot suits were originally designed to minimize the effect of hard impacts. But the inability to maneuver still leaves officers at risk. The forearm and shin plates in state-of-the-art riot suits can absorb the energy of these weapons. But officers need a product that allows them the agility to defensively position the plates in real-time. Restrictive tactical products leave first responders immobile, like a turtle inside a shell.
Mounted Law Enforcement:
Mounted law enforcement units also need protection from bodily harm and the flexibility to handle a horse during a crisis. Without these protections, mounted police remain at risk of agitated crowds injuring them by hurling bottles and bricks. Flexibility for a quick dismount allows them also to get the horse to safety.
Contact Haven Gear Today To Discuss Protection
Few disagree that riot suits are a piece of standard equipment for law enforcement at the community, state, and federal levels. But the gear provided to these frontline women and men will affect the outcomes of heightened situations. Haven Gear produces a complete line of riot suits and accessories that delivers determined and flexible protection.
Visit our website to learn more about our products and how they help keep law enforcement safe.