In a resurfaced video that harkens back to 1980s law enforcement tactics, a California police department is taking a fresh look at an unconventional restraint tool: nunchucks.
Sergeant Casey Day of the Anderson Police Department in rural Northern California is leading the charge, demonstrating how modern nunchucks can effectively replace traditional batons while providing officers with additional restraint capabilities.
“Its primary use is not a striking tool. It is more of a grappling tool,” explains Day during a recent demonstration. “You’ll see it’s used kind of like chopsticks. The two sticks are used, there’s a cord in between, and it’s used to apply pain.”
The Anderson Police Department has acquired the Orcutt Police Nunchaku (OPN), featuring two flexible polycarbonate sticks connected by a foot-long nylon cord. Each pair costs the department approximately $100.
During demonstrations, Day showed how the nunchucks can be used to control suspects who resist arrest by applying precise pressure. “Down in the car. Stop resisting. Down, down, down in the car,” Day instructed during one simulation, showcasing the tool’s restraint capabilities.
The nunchucks, which first gained notoriety in Bruce Lee films of the 1970s, were actually widely used by police departments throughout the 1980s and 1990s, particularly in California. Their popularity waned with the introduction of Tasers in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Kevin Orcutt, owner of Denver-based Orcutt Police Defensive Systems, Inc. (OPDS) which manufactures the OPN, believes law enforcement agencies are ready to reconsider his product. A 36-year law enforcement veteran himself, Orcutt provides three days of training and certifies officers as instructors.
“It was quite popular in the late 80s throughout the 90s. I had, at one point, 200 police agencies–a lot of them in California, that had adopted and were training and using the product,” Orcutt said.
Advocates of the tool point out that nunchucks provide officers with multiple options in a single device, allowing them to both restrain suspects and strike when necessary. The Denver sheriff’s department has been using OPNs since 1991.
Orcutt emphasizes that the OPN is particularly suitable for today’s environment where police encounters are frequently recorded. “The OPN permits much softer and low-profile control and physical restraint applications for officers,” he explains, adding that the device reduces the time needed to restrain a suspect.
The 20 officers in Anderson will have the option to replace their batons with the nunchucks, joining a growing number of departments reconsidering this tool for modern policing challenges.
While some officers admit initial skepticism about using nunchucks, Sergeant Day believes their versatility and effectiveness make them a valuable addition to an officer’s toolkit, especially in situations requiring controlled restraint rather than forceful striking.
The netizens are a lot more skeptical with a number of them questioning if the good sergeant invested in the manufacturer.
