Peace Officer's Equipment Bag

Peace officers ordinarily require a considerable amount of equipment and accessories when on patrol. Certain standard items are frequently needed, such as the peace officer's baton or "billy club", a pair of handcuffs, a helmet, shotgun shells, a flashlight and a ticket book. Heretofore peace officers have had to carry this equipment into the patrol car or to their motorcycle in duffle bags or gym bags not adapted specifically toward the needs of a peace officer. The result of carrying these accessories in general purpose carrying bags is to render some equipment which may be needed instantly rather inaccessible. For example, in the event an officer is patrolling alone and has an instance in which he must hold a flashlight or a gun in one hand and handcuff a suspect in the other, clearly he must have quick, one-handed access to the handcuffs for the procedure to be safe. This is not in keeping with having to shuffle through loose papers, shotgun shells, ticket books and other paraphernalia trying to locate the handcuffs, possibly in the dark bag.

The present invention avoids the above-stated dilemma by providing a specifically designed equipment bag for a peace officer. The principal features of the bag are a pair of Velcro billy club retaining straps stitched between the ends of the carrying straps and the bag so that a billy club can be simply engaged by the Velcro straps and when the bag is carried, one of the carrying straps actually supports the billy club so that there is no danger of the Velcro jostling apart and the club coming loose. One end of the bag is provided with a scalloped, elastic shotgun shell cartridge holder for instant access to additional shotgun shells, which, in the event they are needed, obviously would be needed quickly. The other end of the bag has a quick-access pocket for handcuffs. This pocket has a Velcro closure making it easy for the officer to get to the handcuffs with only one hand.

There are further general purpose pockets defined by two cloth panels stitched to each side of the bag to define three open topped pockets, the stitching of these panels to the bag being done so as to reinforce the attachment of the carrying handles to the bag body.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the bag;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the bag upside down;

FIG. 3 is a side elevation view of the bag with a pocket flap peeled back to reveal the Velcro strips;

FIG. 4 is an end elevation view of the bag showing the handcuff pocket;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the bag sectioned down the middle;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the bag taken along Line 6--6 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a section taken along Line 7--7 of FIG. 4.

The bag of the instant invention has a central body portion or pouch 10 which is formed of tough but light-weight nylon cloth or similar synthetic fabric. The body defines two end walls 12 and two side walls 14 and is formed by stitching the end walls to a continuous length of cloth which defines the side walls, top and bottom of the bag.

On each side of the body 10 a carrying strap 16 is attached by stitching the ends at 18 so that loops defined by the straps extend over the bag and can be gripped together to define a handle. As shown in FIG. 4, one of the carrying straps also supports a baton or billy club 20 which is further secured by a pair of Velcro retaining straps 22. This double securing of the billy club prevents the jostling which it will experience during carrying from loosening the Velcro ties.

At one end of the bag a handcuff pocket 24 is defined which has a Velcro closure 26 to permit rapid, one-handed access to the handcuffs. The other end of the bag mounts an elastic strip 28 which defines consecutive convolutions which receive shotgun shells 30.

Side panels 32 are stitched into the seam joining the end walls 12 to the side walls 14 and along their bottom edges, and additionally are stitched vertically at 34. The stitching at 34 serves the double purpose of reinforcing the connection of the carrying straps to the body of the bag and also subdivides three open-topped pockets, two of them at 36 being the end pockets that are not provided with closures, and a central pocket 38 having a cover flap stitched to the body of the bag and a pair of Velcro fastener strips 40 which of course align with mating fastener material strips adhered to the outside of the panel at 42. These relatively thin, vertical, widely spaced Velcro strips securely hold the flap in place but are easily lifted with one hand by a quick outward tug on the lower edge.

The side pockets defined by the panels 32 can be used for miscellaneous equipment, such as the flashlight, ticket books, pencils, etc. The interior of the bag is dimensioned sufficiently large to accommodate a helmet and a jacket. These are the things a peace officer will not be required to extricate in a great hurry, and therefore are securely enclosed within the body of the bag which is provided with a zipper 44 along the top.

All external pockets however, as well as the shotgun shell holder, are specifically designed for quick, uncluttered, singlehanded access to accommodate the needs of a police officer on the beat and to eliminate the danger inherent in requiring the officer to fumble for handcuffs, shotgun shells and other paraphernalia required in his job.