The ‘buckle-less’ duty belt system has been around for a long time. They’re a popular means of carrying duty equipment for many law enforcement officers, but like any other piece of our equipment, we need to be aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the gear we choose to carry.
When the Velcro belts first came it was though that we no longer needed to wear keepers to keep the belt in place. History has shown us that keepers are still needed.
On more than one occasion, in a struggle the gun belt was turned, placing the officers’ firearm in a position that made it available to the suspect to take away (and out of position for the officer to maintain control and retention).
To prevent that from happening, make sure that you’re wearing keepers to lock the belt in place.
I put an additional keeper directly over the hook that keeps the belt attached.
Suspects have known for years that the easiest way to disarm an officer wearing a ‘buckle-less’ belt system was to grab the belt in the area of the hook and yank hard and the system come unhooked and potentially disarming the officer not only of their weapon but the entire duty belt. Multiple keepers greatly reduce the likelihood of this happening.
Remember that every piece of equipment (your cuff case, holster, etc.) on your belt is one more area that the Velcro fails to adhere to because the contact is blocked. To solve that problem go to your local “mart” store in the fabrics section and look for “industrial strength adhesive Velcro.” Cut a couple of strips to stick to the back of each piece of equipment and you solve that problem.
Now your equipment is adhered as much as possible to the anchoring inner belt. The equipment is much less likely to shift, keeping each piece of kit in position on the duty belt. This allows for the best utilization and retention of each of those pieces of equipment.
