Johnny Tactical exists to make law enforcement better from within and safer from without. That means that part of our mission is addressing serious issues facing law enforcement today and in the future. One of those universal and sweeping problems concerning law enforcement that needs to be addressed is — bathrooms.
Threat Area
Bathrooms are not law enforcement friendly, not even close. Nor are they necessarily safe — and I’m not talking about germs and odors. Bathrooms are threat areas.
There are different types of bathrooms out there — family bathrooms, handicap accessible bathrooms, bathrooms for changing diapers, bathrooms with TVs, newspapers, and little men handing out towels and sprinkling powders. But there are no bathrooms designed for the needs of law enforcement.
Heck, if they can make a bathroom with wall-mounted, fold-down changing tables in the men’s room, then they can make one to accommodate all the gear we have to undo and tear off before we are able to get down to business.
Latrine Logistics
I don’t know about you, but it’s always a challenge to:
- Know what to do with the 45 pound gun belt and the radio the size of a chihuahua. Then there’s the keepers. They’re a handful of little springy bundles of joy that don’t seem to stay put no matter what you do. Setting all that gear down on the floor does not feel like a good option.
- The average stall is way too small to attempt a Superman changeover. And in many cases, the stalls are smaller than Superman’s phone booth. The odds of accidentally dunking your gun belt in the toilet when you take it off and put it back on are dangerously high.
- What about security and ease of accessing your weapons? What if an active shooter comes in there and you have to uncoil your gun belt or reach up where it’s slung over the top of the divider to try and draw your weapon from a seated position. Last time I checked they didn’t train the seated-on-the-throne-pants-around-ankles shooting platform at the Academy or in CQB.
- And ladies, I don’t know what challenges you face in there, but I’m guessing you have it worse off than the menfolk.
This atrocity isn’t even limited to public bathrooms. Walk around your station and take a look (as if you haven’t already). I bet they are no different than the ones you would find out there in that big wide dangerous world. This needs to change, people.
Make Bathrooms Great Again
We need to make bathrooms great again by making them law enforcement friendly! It could be as simple as some wall hooks and a few shelves where we can hang and stow our gear while answering the call of Nature. Or it could be a little more robust like separate areas with locking doors so our safety isn’t compromised while we are indisposed.
How Do You Go?
But in the mean time, how do you go? What are your tricks of the trade? What ideas do you have? Next time you’re sitting and thinking, share your ideas on social media and be sure to hashtag it with #johnnytactical #howdoyougo.
It’s go time! Let’s start a movement together!
(Puns intended)
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