When you’re on the job, a good product can be the difference between getting your hands dirty (literally), or even seriously getting hurt. We asked Corrections1 readers to weigh in on some products they can’t live without, and we got a handfull of responses, ranging from the serious to hilarious, to downright scary.
You gave us your feedback on the site and on Facebook, and we collected our favorites. Here’s what you had to say.
1. Without a doubt my favorite corrections product is my X-26 TASER. My little black and yellow friend has gotten me through some dicey and dangerous situations. I’ve only had to pull it out a handful of times, and every time it has resulted in immediate compliance by the most unruly and dangerous inmates.
Everyone I’ve put the red dot on has either been TASED before or heard enough about it to want no part of it. It’s an amazing combination of non-lethality and effectiveness not shared by any other tool in the jail setting.
-PunisherGrim, from the site
2. Converse tactical boots. 12 hours is a long time!
-Wally Wood from Facebook
3. Pepperball launchers, because without ever firing you can stop a situation, and if you do [fire] that works too.
-Mike Boothe from Facebook
4. Power of the badge itself. It’s a tool that’s louder than a flash bang without ever speaking a word.
-Robert BigRob Hale from Facebook
5. Defensive tactics training. I’m sure every one of us has had to deal with an inmate who just doesn’t want to cooperate, and sometimes you have to rough them up a bit. And then of course after that comes the restraint chair, which then becomes an attitude adjuster.
-Ron Bidwell from Facebook
6. ZAK key holder. It keeps my housing unit keys or my support keys safely on my duty belt without the fear of having them lifted off. Also the clicking sound when I secure the keys is a nice way to be able to tell they are secure.
Two seconds is all it takes to do the right thing, as compared to hours and days to undo the wrong. So do the right thing and click it on your Zak, before your keys you lack.
-Melissa Missy Colaluca from Facebook
7. The best product made to date is team members. Without them, work would be that much harder. They laugh with you, cry with you, and when it’s time to get dirty they’re right there with you.
-Raul Mule from Facebook
8. Can of whoop-ass…X-LARGE.
-Darryl Bolen from Facebook
9. Hand protection, be it latex gloves or leather gloves. I do not want to have to touch what comes out of the people we supervise, and it gets real old wrestling around with someone who is covered in their own excrement. This also keeps our hands safer from sharps and what not.
-Johnathan Teske from Facebook
10. Favorite, or at least most often used, would have been uniforms. Most of my shirts were Flying Cross if I remember correctly. Also firearms, (S&W, Ruger, Remington) and various chemical agents. Those could be serious fun at times.
- Bob Walsh, columnist, via email