Anderson Police Department has decided to equip its 20 officers with nunchaku sticks, a martial arts weapon they say will help them take down suspects.
Anderson Police Sgt. Casey Day tells the Los Angeles Times the department in the town of 10,000 people was looking for a versatile tool that would limit injuries to officers and the people they detained but that would still help them to subdue an unruly suspect.
Day says the nunchakus, also known as nunchucks, will give officers the ability to control a suspect instead of striking them.
He says officers won't be required to use the nunchucks. But if they decide to use them, they must pass a 16-hour training program.
Day, a 15-year police veteran, says he has given up his baton for nunchakus but has yet to use them.