Hmmm… Guess you could ask why armed police have loaded weapons too… Or why the queens guards have sharp pointy things on their guns… or why the ambulance is allowed to go past traffic lights.
More or less it’s because it’s extremely unlikely for a uniformed police officer to carry out knife crime for their gang. Believe me a police officer has more use for a swiss army knife than a 15 year old at cadets.
If the need to have it is so severe, he could keep it at the Squadron, but at the COs discretion of course.
Daws stated above the need for every component needs to be accounted for. I’m happy to be corrected, but I can’t see any exemptions in the law for police to carry a corkscrew or any need for it in their duties.
What function does a corkscrew do for the crown?
The screenshot relates to manufacturing, sales, hires etc. of a weapon, not possession.
I’m not trying to sound rude, I find it hard to disagree with someone respectfully in writing at times… However I do agree that police [and the public] should be able to carry tools on a multitool.
Yeah I fully get that, I agree that we should be allowed to carry it seeing as it’s permittable by the law, but with the current state of the country, the whole high alert and everyone being on edge situation it doesn’t help.
If you are issued it as a Police Officer then you can carry it no issues as the “for work use” defence is fully covered, if you are not issued it then you are on a sticky wicket.
There was a Police Officer charged with Points & Blades last year from the Met for possession of a bladed article due to his multi-tool, he was due to stand trial in December but I can’t seem to find the court results.
There isn’t an official RAFAC policy. Same as there’s not a RAFAC policy for wearing a pink tutu.
Just because it’s not written down, doesn’t mean you can do it though.
At the end of the day, you’re going to have to find a good excuse for carrying a multitool/Swiss Army knife/Leatherman on an average parade night. Fine if you’re on a greens camp, in the middle of nowhere, surviving on ration packs for 24 hours. Not fine if it’s a permanent fixture in your pocket, and it is easily accessible in case of confrontation, and you live in an area known for gang fights, for example. It’s all about context.
@daws1159 I think we have a similar job, if not the same.
I may be missing something here, but does the <3” and non-locking not apply to all pointy bits? I carry a Leatherman squirt which has several pointy bits on it - all about 2” or shorter and non-locking, and it would be very hard for someone to argue (with a straight face) that it’s an offensive weapon.
No 3 inches & non-locking applies only to “a folding pocket knife” the rest of the legislation just says bladed or sharply pointed. It’s not an offensive weapon that’s a different piece of legislation.
The whole reason for Points & blades becoming a piece of legislation was after someone was stabbed with a screwdriver.
Only in the ATC could someone ask a question like this.
If they use it away from the squadron for nefarious reasons, it’s not our problem, if they get stopped on the street it’s not our problem, if they are on the squadron and threaten someone with it, it becomes our problem.
However the fact people, especially young people, feel they need to have something to protect themselves, is a sad indictment of the failing of the authorities to properly deal with the sort of thing that seems to becoming a weekly occurrence.
I don’t walk around many of our towns at night locally that I did as a kid with gay abandon, as there have been too many reports of little scrotes being little scrotes and no action taken.
It all ones down to the purpose of possessing the item, you would be hard pressed to not be able to justify having keys with you.
But things like Screwdrivers etc you either need or you don’t, if you don’t need it don’t carry it, if you do need it you can explain why you have it. (But in a toolbox in a bag is always going to be better than in your back pocket).
I carry a multitool on my No3s uniform. i have felt weary at times having it in public as it has a locking <3" blade. if questioned however I am confident i could justify its possession; namely i am in uniform so on my way to an event or from an event (typically this could be a fuel station filling up my car/SOV, or Tescos getting my lunch/dinner) which could be seen as a valid reason.
the only people who would stop me would be the police, and I can’t imagine they would stop a “solider” as that is what i look like to the untrained eye, for carrying a legitimate tool for work on my belt - particularly as it doesn’t look like a weapon when “holstered” or is waved about like a cheerleaders pom-pom in a threatening manner…
God some folk need to get a.life and grip. You have legal power over what a cadet does on way to or from cadets. Some folks I think want to act like police officers rather than youth workers and start searching cadets on entering ATC building. Cadets have carried kits like this for years without bother
Thankfully I’m well outside the age group of who might get stopped. You have to feel sorry for kids today (even those in the their 20s) where whatever they do is looked upon as being suspicious and attracts attention. If a copper stopped me they’d need to be bored.
