Types of Batons

A baton known as a nightstick is a roughly cylindrical club made of wood, rubber, plastic, or metal. It is carried as compliance and defensive tool by law-enforcement officers, security guards, and military personnel. It also constitutes an essential part of police gear.

A baton can be used defensively, offensively to strike or jab. It can assist in the application of arm locks.

• Straight stick

A straight, fixed-length baton is commonly referred to as a straight stick. It consists of a long cylinder with a wrapped grip, with a slightly thicker or tapering shaft and rounded tip. They are usually made of hardwood and are sometimes available in other materials such as aluminum, acrylic, dense plastics, and rubber.

Straight sticks are heavier and have more weight concentrated in the striking end than other designs. It adds more weight to police gear. This makes them less maneuverable but would deliver more kinetic energy on impact. Most cops would rather have other batons constitute their police gear than the straight stick because of its inconvenience to carry and a desire to look less threatening to the community.

• Stun baton

A stun baton is a modern variation designed to administer an electric shock to incapacitate the target. It consists of an insulated handle and guard and a rigid shaft, usually a foot or more in length, for delivering a shock. It functions like a long stun gun that requires the tip to be held against the target and then manually triggering a shock by a switch in the handle.

Most batons of this design cannot be used as impact weapons and will break if used in this way.  Although a few were built to withstand occasional lighter impacts.

• Side-handle batons

These are made in fixed and collapsible models and are usually constructed with materials like wood, polycarbonate, epoxy, aluminum, or a combination of materials. Some side-handle batons are one-piece design; the side-handle and shaft are permanently fused during manufacturing. One-piece designs are likely to be stronger than two-piece designs and have no risk of a locking screw loosening from its threads. Other side-handle batons are two-piece in design.

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