Great site.
Not too sure about what he says regarding carrying a SAK here though. He makes it look as if carrying any pocket knife is illegal.
http://www.donrearic.com/defendingyourselfinbritain.html
I've often thought of investing in a hawthorn walking stick.
If you get searched by the wrong police officer and they just plain don't like you then he may well be right (in london at least). Thankfully the few time's i have been searched (going through 'the arch' was a scary event) a polite response, decent appearance and a good raport with the officer has led to them turning a blind eye to the fact I generally have a multi in my bag, a sak on my keys and a swisscard in my wallet. If i'd been unlucky they could have pointed to the swisscard and gone 'fixed blade,' the multi and gone 'locking knife, or, even worse, just plain loked at the sak and said that i had planned to use it as an offensive weapon.
That's a bit of an assumption to make but as far as i am aware, based on chats with friends of mine in the met, officers have been told that they should consider any blade being carried in london as an offensive weapon and should take action on it. The reasoning behind it is ludicrous, as apparently there is no need for any blade in london, but they have the power to prosecute not only if you are carrying a blade which falls within the 'illegal carry' catagory, but also if they consider something which falls in the 'legal catagory' is going to be used as an offensive weapon.
Thankfully according to my mate the chances of one of them actually prosecuting someone for having a sak is slim but that is what they have been told to do, and he added that if someone was wandering around alleys looking scruffy, wearing a hood etc and they found something as innocent as a sak on them then they would probably take action, particularly if you were a 'youth'. Personally it sounds prejudice to me but thankfully it is in my favour as i'm only in london when heading to work and wearing a shirt/tie in the evening with a bag containing a tupperweared meal and plenty of boring looking documents so i doubt i'm a risk, but still, this guy is right and carrying anything in london could be a risk.
ps. he also told me to stop making sandwiches on the train using my sak, as apparently that would be 'brandishing' something which could be an offensive weapon and if a member of the public complained then i'd be [in a lot of trouble
], regardless of the innocent intentions and good nature of the officer, who would be obliged to caution me at the very least.
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