Man catcher

Top left: Swedish fire-watchmen [Brandvakt] with man catchers, Stockholm, 1822.
Top right: Nightly troublemaker who has ended up in the night guard's man catcher, 19th century Sweden.
Bottom left: Demonstration of an early modern Swedish man catcher against a mannequin's head.
Bottom right: Early modern Swedish man catcher with locking arms.

A man catcher (compare German: Menschenfänger), also known as catchpole,^[1] is a capture tool for law enforcement work and similar.^[2] It is a form of polearm, consisting of a long shaft equipped with a semicircular arc at one end, intended to be thrusted against an opposing individual, with the aim of encircling their waist, limbs, or neck, followed by further thrusts to push the captured person up against a wall or the ground in order to limit and lock their ability to move and escape.

History

It was used in Europe as late as the 18th century.^{[citation needed]} The European design consisted of a pole mounted with a two pronged head. Each prong was semi-circular in shape with a spring-loaded "door" on the front. This created an effective valve that would allow the ring to pass around a man-sized cylinder and keep it trapped.^{[citation needed]} The man catcher was used primarily to pull a person from horseback and drag him to the ground where he could be helplessly pinned. This is one of the few examples of less-lethal polearms.^{[citation needed]}

The design assumes that the captured person wears armor to protect him against the metal prongs, which could easily hurt the neck of a person without armor. The man catcher was also used to trap and contain violent prisoners.^[3]

Painting showcasing Japanese medieval law enforcement polearms, such as the *sodegarami*, *tsukubō*, and *sasumata*

Similarly, the Japanese sodegarami, tsukubō, and sasumata were used by Edo-era law enforcement for apprehending suspects. However, the sasumata was most like a man catcher in usage as its forked head was designed to pin the suspect's neck, legs, arms, or joints against a wall or the ground.^{[citation needed]}

Gallery

Early modern German man catcher with locking arms and inward facing spikes]]
Medieval Japanese sasumata man catcher with shaft thorns against counter grips
Man catcher spear with a blade and twin catching arms

Modern variants

Modern mancatchers are often used with shields by police and security guards to isolate and restrain individuals while protecting themselves.

China

A type of locking man catcher is available for staff at train stations, supermarkets, and airports in China to capture and restrain individuals in a non-lethal manner.^{[citation needed]}

Some mancatchers may be designed with sharp prongs to discourage a restrained person from grabbing the polearm.

In some junior and middle schools, security guards are equipped with non-locking variants designed to seize a person's waist or prevent them from advancing. It is essentially a two-pronged fork, a U-shape projecting from a pole.^{[citation needed]}

Japan

While man catchers are no longer in western use, the Japanese police (and thereof) retain modern variants of the sasumata, that are semi-flexible, with padding, blunt endpoints, and other slightly modified geometry, designed to significantly reduce the chance of injury to restrained civilians. These variants are designed for use by non-soldiers—specifically, they are intended for use by a Japanese riot police mounted on horseback. In such a case, the mounted riot police would typically be arranged in formation line abreast, and would use a row of raised sasumata to hold back large crowds. These mounted riot police answer to the Japanese National Police Agency. Since the outbreak of serious riots is uncommon in Japan, the modern sasumata is rarely used. Nevertheless, the necessary training is kept up to date.^[4]

India and Nepal

During the COVID-19 pandemic in India, police in Chandigarh implemented a mechanical device resembling a man catcher in order to capture suspects while maintaining a safe social distance. It was created to be used on a person's waistline. They called it a "social distancing clamp" or a "lockdown-breaker catcher". It was based on an idea from police in Nepal, where officers have reportedly detained over 1,400 suspects using a similar "multifunctional arrest device". Mancatchers were also used for other purposes such as pulling dead bodies out of the water. The main difference between the designs is that those used in India expand the size of the clamp depending on the person's waistline.^[5]^[6]

References

^ Stone, George Cameron (13 March 2013). A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor: In All Countries and in All Times. ISBN 9780486131290.
^ "Kulturen, En årsbok, 1945" (PDF). kulturen.com. Retrieved 2025-07-22.
^ "Making the Modern World - Everyday Life - Control - 1750-1820". Archived from the original on 2006-01-14.
^ Cunningham, Don. Taiho-jutsu:Law and Order in the Age of the Samurai. Boston; Rutland, Vermont; Tokyo: Tuttle Publishing, 2004.
^ Frayer, Lauren (April 30, 2020). "Police In India Test Huge Tongs To Nab Suspects From A Distance Amid Coronavirus". NPR. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
^ "Nepal police use long pole of the law". The Canberra Times. March 31, 2020.

External links

Media related to Man catchers at Wikimedia Commons

[1] Stone, George Cameron (13 March 2013). A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor: In All Countries and in All Times. ISBN 9780486131290.

[2] "Kulturen, En årsbok, 1945" (PDF). kulturen.com. Retrieved 2025-07-22.

[3] "Making the Modern World - Everyday Life - Control - 1750-1820". Archived from the original on 2006-01-14.

[4] Cunningham, Don. Taiho-jutsu:Law and Order in the Age of the Samurai. Boston; Rutland, Vermont; Tokyo: Tuttle Publishing, 2004.

[5] Frayer, Lauren (April 30, 2020). "Police In India Test Huge Tongs To Nab Suspects From A Distance Amid Coronavirus". NPR. Retrieved April 30, 2020.

[6] "Nepal police use long pole of the law". The Canberra Times. March 31, 2020.

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