ASP Telescopic Baton
ASP's most well-known product is their line of telescoping batons. Law enforcement officers rate them highly for their portability, convenience, effectiveness, usability, and psychological impact.
ASP batons enjoy a great deal of market penetration, having been adopted by most major law enforcement agencies in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia since the early 1990s. For this reason, expandable batons in general are sometimes erroneously referred to as "asps", as a genericized trademark.
The batons come in 4 sizes: 16", 21", 26" and 31" and have a wide number of variations, such as color (black being the most common, but some have nickel-plated shafts), grip pattern and material, and metal composition, the most common being 4140 high carbon steel, though the "airweight" line uses a light-weight alloy with a combination of steel and aluminum.
Until recently, all ASP batons were friction-lock in design, and were opened by swinging the handle forcible through air. To close this type, the baton's tip is driven into a hard surface to break the friction. A new product line introduced in 2010 is the "LeverLoc" baton, which are opened the same way was as friction-lock, but can be closed by twisting the shafts carefully with both hands. LeverLoc batons are slightly longer than their friction-lock counterparts when in a collapsed state due to the requirements of the mechanism. A specialized type of LeverLoc was released in early 2011, called an "Agent," which is designed for plain-clothes concealment. The friction-lock Airweight series (P12 and P16), also marketed for plain-clothed concealment was released in March of 2012.
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