Rachel McAdams’ character Ani Bezzerides uses knives with deadly speed and skill in Season 2 of HBO’s True Detective. After intensive training with a martial artist who specializes in close quarters prison knife fighting, McAdams told Time Magazine: “In order to be effective with [a knife], you have to get so close to your enemy. It’s just so much different than a firearm.”
Apparently, Rachel McAdams also had some exposure to knives before her True Detective role: “It was a little unfamiliar to me, although my brother actually collected knives. So we always had them around, in a weird way. He was very responsible with them. They were his little treasures: he would clean them and take really good care of them.”
Knife people with a keen eye might have recognized some of the knives McAdams used on the show including a Cold Steel Double Agent, Cold Steel Brave Heart, and a Benchmade 5300SBK Presidio.
Awesome to see Rachel McAdams rockin’ a Cold Steel Double Agent in her boot in @TrueDetective! pic.twitter.com/xDqn594yUS
— Cold Steel (@Coldsteelknives) June 25, 2015
Season 2 of HBO’s True Detective was set in the fictional city of Vinci, California, an industrial city in Southeast LA that according to the L.A. Times, is based on the real city of Vernon, California. It’s a dramatic setting for bloodshed in a gritty crime show like True Detective.
Now that the Season 2 has come to a conclusion, we wanted to find out what knives real police officers carried and what they used them for – so we asked the LAPD and some officers from around the country.
What do the cops use knives for?
“We’re using a knife for a lot of things, sometimes as a screwdriver, sometimes… well, the uses for it are sometimes surprising, but I don’t know a lot of officers who use a knife as a defense weapon,” said one officer we spoke with. “Anything requiring a blade from cutting seatbelts to opening that pesky bag of chips. You know the one – where if you try to just ‘pull’ it open chips fly everywhere,” joked another.
What knives do the police carry?
A few of the officers we talked to didn’t carry a knife at all. These officers choose to keep less-frequently used tools like a seat-belt cutter and glass-breaker in their squad cars instead: “Inside the back of our trunk we have a bag filled with different equipment; we already wear a lot of stuff on our belt, so a lot of people will carry their more specialized tools that don’t live in the pocket in that bag – that way they can be readily available.”
The Cold Steel Voyager was mentioned by one officer and a Benchmade Mel Pardue by another. While few knew the model of the knife they carried, the brands they named included Buck, Kershaw, CRKT, Spyderco, Benchmade, and Cold Steel.
Robert Guy Ellison
August 24, 2015 at 11:55 pm
Spyderco
Nick Whiteside
August 25, 2015 at 12:03 am
Kabar TDI
Jake Vandenberg
August 25, 2015 at 12:09 am
My father, who has been an LA County Deputy Sheriff for 25 years, carried an original Spyderco Delica with a Spyderedge every day on patrol. He used it for general utility, and told me most deputies at that time carried similar Spyderco knives. He also carried what I think was a Gerber River Survival by Blackie Collins in his boot for self defense. Seeing those knives growing up probably made me a collector today.
Randell Jordan
August 25, 2015 at 12:18 am
Kinda surprised none of them mentioned a leatherman considering multi-tools have so many uses
Phil Coffer
August 25, 2015 at 12:27 am
Emerson and gerber multi tool
Michael Fisher
August 25, 2015 at 12:47 am
If you carry a gun you should carry a non lethal and a knife. The more options you have the better prepared you are for any situation. A man within 21 feet of you can reacreach you before you can fully draw your firearm. In that situation you may find yourself wanting a blade to assist in hand2hand while you fight off a potential gun grab.
Patrick Nóbrega Mourin
August 25, 2015 at 12:48 am
Guess Leo’s aren’t cool enough for emersons. 😛 I kid I kid.
Kieran Burke
August 25, 2015 at 12:51 am
If you have time to draw a knife you have time to draw your pistol.
Dan OBrien
August 25, 2015 at 12:51 am
First knife was a Buck 110, shoved in between my mag carrier and belt. Now, it’s a Spyderco Endura clipped to my sap pocket (they still call them sap pockets)?
Michael Fisher
August 25, 2015 at 12:56 am
But do you have time to aim and pull the trigger. In an arms length fight you can often do more to fend off an attacker with a blade than a gun. Of course every situation is different even in such close quarters but like I said the more options the better.
Terry Cassem
August 25, 2015 at 12:58 am
Benchmade auto.
Nick Williams
August 25, 2015 at 1:07 am
Alot of Australian emergency services carry leatherman.
Ruben Leal
August 25, 2015 at 1:29 am
I’ve seen a cop with a cold steel recon in his pocket
Michael Waki
August 25, 2015 at 1:35 am
Full-size katana. Two of em. One on each hip.
William Ware
August 25, 2015 at 1:56 am
I spent nearly 5 years selling knives, and I had hundreds of officers, fire fighters, paramedics, soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, guardsmen, and other professionals come through my shop.
I sold them a wide variety of knives and tools, from Leatherman, Gerber, and Victorinox to the Taylor made Smith and Wessons, to Cold Steel, Spyderco, Benchmade and more.
Some wanted the absolute top of the line, some just wanted a beater tool.
Johnny Rodriguez
August 25, 2015 at 1:59 am
I heard spyderco,5.11, and old buck..but now a days they have what fits an individual… like some real tactical just for them, knife,seatbelt cutter,window breaker, all in one…like i said good brand just for law enforcement. .
Maxwell James Super
August 25, 2015 at 2:06 am
Many cops don’t know a lot about knives and in my experience many are dull as hell (I’m atomedge lol, I do professional sharpening). Most use their knives for bullshit that isn’t knife related like screwdrivers or prying shit.
The biggest use for a knife a police officer has is hassling the guy carrying one.
Todd Mason
August 25, 2015 at 2:20 am
Spyderco Manix 2, Gerber emergency knife with seatbelt cutter and glass break and a Victorianox multi tool.
Dan OBrien
August 25, 2015 at 2:29 am
I have a very old Benchmade AFO….i need to send it in for a new blade…
Nate MacDonald
August 25, 2015 at 2:55 am
A lot of guys and gals I work with use SOG knives (usually trident folders) or benchmade folders. I carry a SOG trident tiger stripe. I keep a strap cutter on my bag
Hector Garcia
August 25, 2015 at 3:55 am
Spyderco
Matt Stick
August 25, 2015 at 4:53 am
Benchmade griptilian
David Kupcinet
August 25, 2015 at 5:21 am
The truth is, so many cops don’t even know what they carry or why they carry it, most guys have some old knife they’ve had forever. Sometimes it’s an awesome old rare Gerber and they don’t even know what they have, but usually it’s an old beat up Schrade or Case or Bowie or Buck. The cops who know what they carry and why they carry it are the cops who pay attention to duty gear, spend time playing with their off duty EDC gear, the ones who watch YouTube vids about other people’s belt setups, etc. Those are the cops who know what they carry and why they carry it, those are the cops who have 19 different holsters for two guns…trust me, I’ve got 19 holsters too! We are the ones who can tell you about all the awesome expensive knives we’ve lost or had broken or stolen or got grossness on them and that was the end of that expensive awesome knife. We’re the ones who can tell you how much we love ZTs for the craftsmanship and the feel of the ball bearings in conjunction with the flipper and how much we love Benchmades for the tight lockup and the cpm154 steel and how much we love Spydercos for the thumb opening and the price points vs build quality and all of that is true…but the truth is…I carry a 35 dollar Smith&Wesson in my thigh pocket. It’s a nice, simple, cheap, crappy knife that will cut… for the most part. And I carry a multi tool in a pouch on my rig. Now, Kabar and H&K (Benchmade) both make fixed blade knives for officers to carry under their duty belts, specifically designed for weapon retention techniques but, quite frankly, I don’t know almost any officers who use these and, while they may be cool, if you need a knife to retain your firearm, you’re not ready to carry a firearm. So, what do cops carry and why? Everything! That’s why!
Paul Southern
August 25, 2015 at 1:19 pm
I carry three knives on my person while on duty. A ZT 0566, a CRKT M16, and a Ka Bar TDI
Joshua Clay Nolan
August 25, 2015 at 3:20 pm
If it’s not a benchmade it’s junk
Mark Balch
August 25, 2015 at 3:58 pm
Hold up, Case still makes a pretty good knife !!!
Joshua Clay Nolan
August 25, 2015 at 4:15 pm
Far from a benchmade
Mark Balch
August 25, 2015 at 4:20 pm
I got a Benchmade at the house, broke !!!
Joshua Clay Nolan
August 25, 2015 at 4:21 pm
Send it back they fix for free I got 7 and they best made
Mark Balch
August 25, 2015 at 4:22 pm
I did, they sent it back & said it was abused.
Joshua Clay Nolan
August 25, 2015 at 4:22 pm
Like a step child
Marc ElLoco
August 25, 2015 at 4:53 pm
Leatherman Skeletool & a Mora Knife… simple, but it works good in most situations…
Michael Fisher
August 25, 2015 at 5:01 pm
That could be an option in some situations. But it’s not an option if you don’t have a knife to begin with. Again all situations are different and what would work in one encounter very well could get you hurt or killed in another. Its all about having as many options as reasonably possible so you are prepared for the widest range of possibilities.
Justin Walker
August 25, 2015 at 7:19 pm
I don’t think some of the people commenting on here have any real understanding of knives nor do they understand law enforcement.
Paul Southern
August 25, 2015 at 7:26 pm
That’s pretty common across the board.
Ian Naistat
August 27, 2015 at 1:13 am
Chris Reeve Knives > Benchmade. Don’t get me wrong, I still love Benchmade, own several. CRK cost more but you get what you pay for, just saying.