64 According to the ODIHR Human Rights Handbook on Policing Assemblies, “[t]he use of batons by police in a co-ordinated, disciplined way can move or disperse violent participants in an assembly or protect individual police officers from attack.”95 Possible health and/or human rights implications of use in policing assemblies: Striking weapons can be misused by law enforcement officials to inflict unnecessary or excessive force through beating. The level of force inflicted varies, depending on the skill and strength of the user and the type of baton used. As a general rule, the longer and heavier a baton is, the higher the degree of force it can generate.96 Overhead strikes and strikes to the head or neck carry the risk of serious injury or death. Driving the baton “end on” into the person can cause serious injury, including to vital organs or by causing ruptures and internal bleeding.97 Striking weapons are sometimes used to apply dangerous restraint techniques, including applying leverage to limbs for pain compliance and, particularly, neck-holds that restrict breathing. Neck holds have been found to present a “high risk of serious injury or death as a result of large blood vessel or airway compression” and also risk “injury to underlying structures, including the larynx, trachea, and hyoid bone”.98 The CPT has recommended that “the use of techniques involving physical force which may impede airflow through the respiratory tract be prohibited.”99 The UNODC/OHCHR Resource Book on the Use of Force and Firearms in Law Enforcement recommends that special precautions be taken when using batons, including the following: Ibid. See Collie, K.; Wargo, B; Berry, C. & C. Mesloh, “A Pilot Study of Kinetic Energy Transfer Based Upon Police Baton Designs”, Law Enforcement Executive Forum, vol. 9, no. 1, 2009, pp. 121-128, <https:// w w w.researchgate.net/publication/263808533_ A _Pilot _Study_of_Kinetic_Energy_Transfer_Based_Upon_Police_Baton_Designs>. 97 UN, Guidance on Less-Lethal Weapons in Law Enforcement, op. cit., note 7, para. 7.1.4. 98 Vilke, G. M., “Neck Holds”, in Ross, D. L. & Chan, T. C. (Eds.), Forensic Science and Medicine: Sudden Deaths in Custody, (New Jersey: Humana Press Inc., 2006), pp. 15-37,  ht tps://books.google. p l/b o o k s ? i d = B F l 6 G G Z s q p 4 C & p g = PA113 & l p g = PA113 & d q = F o r e n s i c + S c i e n c e + a n d + M e d i c i n e:+ S u d d e n + D e a t h s + i n + C u s t o d y& s o u r c e = b l & o t s = f S 6 8 N k l OT&s ig=AC f U3U1D ama XQ759 Y_ Ee _ 6 oE Z5ToD h 6Ckg& hl= en&s a=X&ve d=2ahUK Ew iD5t W H-f TpAhVtlosKHV VqBCAQ6AEwA3oECAoQAQ # v=onepage&q=Forensic%20Science%20 and%20Medicine%3A%20Sudden%20Deaths%20in%20Custody&f=false>. 99 CPT, “Report to the Slovenian Government on the Visit to Slovenia Carried Out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 31 January to 6 February 2012”, CPT/Inf (2013) 16, para. 67, <ht tps://w w w.ref world.org/ docid/51e922b34.html>. 95 96