Knives for First Responders and Duty Carry

What a Duty Knife Has to Do

A duty knife is a cutting tool first, and it has to work in the worst thirty seconds of a shift, and that sets the list. It has to open with one hand while the other hand holds a patient, a door or a dog. It has to open in a glove, which rules out small thumb studs and tight flippers. It has to cut webbing, a seatbelt, cord, clothing and packaging cleanly, which asks for a sharp plain edge or a serrated section, not a blunt rescue hook that only does one thing. It has to stay closed in a pocket or a vest, which is where a button lock with a safety switch or a double-action OTF earns its place. It helps if it can break tempered glass. And it has to come clean after it has been through something unpleasant, which is a steel question as much as a cleaning question.

Weight and length matter more than they do for a knife that lives in a desk drawer. Three and a half inches of blade handles every cutting job on a scene. Longer blades add weight on a belt that is already carrying a lot, and they cross the blade limits that a few states and cities set. Our OTF blade length guide covers those lines.

Out the Front, Side Opening or Manual

A double-action OTF fires the blade straight out of the handle and pulls it straight back, with one thumb, and nothing swings past your fingers on the way. That is why it is the automatic most people in uniform prefer. The slider is large, it works in a glove, and the blade is held closed by the mechanism itself, so the knife does not open in a pocket. The A5 Spry, A4, A7 Zastava, A2 Badger and A5 Spry Mini are all double-action OTFs. Our OTF knives explained guide covers how the mechanism works.

A side-opening automatic swings the blade out like a folder, on a spring, at the press of a button. The A3 Delta is TEKTO's, and it is the knife we point gloved hands to: a large button, a G10 or forged carbon handle with jimping where the thumb lands, and a safety switch that keeps the blade closed until you want it. Friends of ours at a local Air Force Reserve unit carried the A3 Delta prototypes, told us what worked and what did not, and we changed the knife on their feedback. The Delta on sale is the one that came out of that loop. It is also the heaviest knife in this guide at 5.96 ounces, which is the trade for a 3.60-inch blade and a handle you can find by feel. The A3 Delta Mini is the same idea at 1.90 inches and 2.54 ounces. Our gloved use guide goes deeper on what a glove takes away and what a handle has to give back.

Some departments bar automatic knives on duty regardless of state law, and some states ban them outright. For those, a manual folder with a strong lock does the same work with one hand. The F3 Charlie is a 3.80-inch flipper on a button lock, so the blade is held closed and released the same way an automatic is, and the F1 Alpha is a 3.10-inch liner lock with a glass breaker and a lanyard point, at 3.03 ounces.

Glass Breakers, and What They Will and Will Not Break

A glass breaker is a hardened point on the butt of the handle. Struck against the corner of a tempered side window, it concentrates the force on a small area and the whole pane crazes and falls in. The A2 Badger, A5 Spry, A5 Spry Mini, A4, A7 Zastava, A3 Delta, A3 Delta Mini and F1 Alpha all carry one. The Spry Mini's is tungsten. The F2 Bravo and F3 Charlie do not have one.

Two limits are worth knowing before you count on it. A windshield is laminated glass, two layers bonded to a plastic film, and a glass breaker will star it and not get through it. A growing number of newer vehicles use laminated glass in the front side windows as well, for noise and for theft, and those windows behave like a windshield. The etched label in the corner of each window says tempered or laminated, so a glance tells you which one you are facing. Aim for a rear side window or the corner of a tempered pane, and treat the breaker as the tool for the common case, not every case.

Steel for Blood, Sweat and Salt

Every blade steel trades edge life, toughness, corrosion resistance and ease of sharpening against each other, and a duty knife asks hardest for the third. Blood is corrosive, sweat is salt water, and a knife that goes back in a pocket wet and stays there for the rest of a twelve-hour shift will show it. The A5 Spry, A5 Spry Mini and A7 Zastava run S35VN, a stainless powder steel that holds an edge and sharpens without a fight. The A5 Spry Bronze Edition and the X1 Atlas fixed blade run MagnaCut, which is the first stainless that is as tough as a tool steel, and the steel we would pick for a knife that sees the most fluid and the least cleaning. The A2 Badger, A3 Delta, A4 and the F1, F2 and F3 folders run D2 under a titanium coating, which holds a fine edge for a long time and relies on the coating and a wipe-down for its rust resistance, and the F4 Echo folder runs S35VN. Our blade steel guide and MagnaCut guide explain the trade in detail.

Where the Badge Matters, and Where It Does Not

Start with the federal law, because it is the one people get wrong. The Federal Switchblade Act regulates how automatic knives move in interstate commerce and onto federal land, and it exempts the Armed Forces and their members acting in the performance of duty. It says nothing about police, fire or EMS, and it does not govern what you carry in your own state. The federal law that lets a qualified officer carry a concealed firearm in any state, LEOSA, says firearm throughout and says nothing about knives. Our 50-state guide covers the federal rules and links to every state.

Five states ban automatic knives for everyone, and this is where the exemption is decided person by person.

Washington writes the broadest exemption of the five. RCW 9.41.251 takes the spring blade knife ban off general law enforcement officers, firefighters and rescue members, Washington State Patrol officers and military members, while on duty and while transporting the knife to and from storage off duty. It is the one state that names firefighters and rescue personnel. Read our Washington guide.

New Jersey exempts members of the Armed Forces and the National Guard, and "any law enforcement officer while actually on duty or traveling to or from an authorized place of duty, provided that his possession of the prohibited weapon or device has been duly authorized under the applicable laws, regulations or military or law enforcement orders," in 2C:39-3(g). Two conditions sit in that sentence: on duty or on the way, and authorized by the department. Firefighters and EMS are not named. Read our New Jersey guide.

New York exempts police officers and peace officers as defined in the Criminal Procedure Law, persons in the military service of the state when authorized by the adjutant general, and persons in the military service of the United States in pursuit of official duty, in Penal Law 265.20(a)(1). The text does not limit police and peace officers to duty hours. Firefighters and EMTs are not on the list unless they hold peace officer status. Read our New York guide.

Minnesota writes no exemption into the switchblade clause. The peace officer and military exceptions in 609.66 belong to the school and courthouse subdivisions, not to the ban in subdivision 1(a)(4). Read our Minnesota guide.

New Mexico writes no exception at all. Section 30-7-8 applies to "any person," and it stops there. Read our New Mexico guide.

Two more states deserve a line. Illinois writes its exemption around the Firearm Owner's Identification card rather than the badge: an automatic is legal in the hands of a FOID holder, the card goes to Illinois residents, and the Act makes a narrow exception for out-of-state officers employed in Illinois and service members assigned there. Read our Illinois guide. California allows automatics with blades under 2 inches and bans carrying the rest, and Penal Code 21510 writes no exception for officers, so the 2-inch line is the line in uniform or out of it. That is what the A2 Badger and A5 Spry Mini are for. Read our California guide.

In the states that restrict concealed carry of an automatic rather than ownership, an officer exemption is common. Texas, Nevada, Maryland, Virginia, Oregon and North Dakota each write one for peace officers, and several add the military on duty. Firefighters and EMS are rarely named anywhere. If you are not a sworn officer, assume the statute treats you as a civilian and carry what a civilian may carry in that state.

Two rules hold everywhere. Department policy decides what rides on your belt on duty, and a statute's exemption does not override it. And in most states the exemption ends when the shift does. Washington and New Jersey cover the trip to and from work in so many words. The others do not, so the knife that is legal on your belt at noon may not be legal in your pocket at the game that night. Check your state's page before you order, and the Knife Law Watch page for anything pending.

Which TEKTO for the Job

For patrol and everyday duty carry, the A5 Spry: a 3.50-inch S35VN blade in drop point, tanto or double edge, a 6061-T6 aluminum handle, a glass breaker, an ambidextrous clip and 3.49 ounces. Pick the drop point unless you have a reason, the tanto for a stronger tip, and the double edge only where your state allows daggers, since a few states that permit automatics restrict double-edged blades.

For gloves, winter and anyone who opens a knife by feel, the A3 Delta: a 3.60-inch D2 drop point, a large button with a safety switch, a glass breaker and a textured handle, at 5.96 ounces.

For webbing, rope and seatbelts, the A5 Spry in tanto: the reinforced tip starts a cut through a seatbelt or a strap, and the plain S35VN edge runs through webbing cleanly as long as it is kept sharp. The A4, a 3.80-inch double edge with a serrated section, is the knife we make for that job, and it is out of stock until next year.

For California and any city with a 2-inch or 3-inch line, the A2 Badger at 1.85 inches and 2.18 ounces, or the A5 Spry Mini at 1.85 inches in S35VN with a tungsten glass breaker. Our Spry Mini vs Badger page puts them side by side.

For departments that bar automatics, the F3 Charlie for a full-size button-lock folder and the F1 Alpha for a lighter liner lock with a glass breaker. For a fixed blade on a wildland line or a rescue rig, the X1 Atlas, a 3.30-inch MagnaCut drop point with a Kydex sheath.

After the Shift

Rinse the blade, wipe it dry, work the action a few times and put a drop of oil on the track or the pivot. Do not take an OTF apart to clean it, and do not put it away wet. Our guides to cleaning an OTF and resetting one cover the whole routine, and the reset is worth learning before you need it, because a double-action OTF that fires into something solid disengages on purpose and resets in a second once you know how.

TEKTO's limited lifetime warranty covers defects in materials and workmanship. It does not cover prying, pounding or throwing, so the glass breaker is for glass and the blade is for cutting. Used that way, a duty knife lasts a career.