Chesbro on Security: Disguised and Concealable Weapons

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Disguised and Concealable Weapons

Everyday law enforcement, security, and intelligence personnel are faced with potential threats from disguised and concealable weapons. By being aware of what’s out there, it becomes easier to recognize a threat and take action to protect ourselves against it. Likewise, in undercover situations, unconventional and special operations it may be possible to adopt certain of these weapons to give us the advantage over an adversary.

Below are examples of some of these disguised and concealable weapons. Whenever possible I have linked to a major retailer (i.e. Amazon.Com) or to the web-site of the company producing the item listed. Any item that can be easily found or purchased on-line should be considered commonplace and is something that may very likely be encountered in the field.

I would like to acknowledge the work of Wendy Kierstead, CCA, of the Brunswick, Maine Police Department. For several years Ms. Kierstead published a law enforcement safety handbook, identifying unusual weapons and concealment devices. Ms. Kierstead’s work contributed significantly to officer safety and very probably saved lives by making officers aware of new and unique threats they might come up against in the field. Ms. Kierstead has since retired from the Brunswick Police Department, but the last update of her work (2006) can still be found on-line (http://www.icops.org/PDFs/LawEnforcementSafetyHandbook.pdf) and is still contributing to officer safety.

In 2012, I published an updated Catalog of Unique, Concealed & Disguised Weapons, Concealments, Escape Techniques, Tactics & Tradecraft which is available from Archive.Org.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Published a guide to Improvised Weapons and Other Officer Safety Concerns, which is available on the Public Intelligence web-site.