Personal safety tools and the law

When you start living independently, it is natural to want something in your bag that makes you feel safer. Some tools are legal and genuinely useful. Others are illegal, and carrying them can turn you from the person at risk into the person arrested.

Tools that are legal and useful

• A personal attack alarm. Avon and Somerset Police say it is designed to shock and distract an attacker, giving you vital seconds to get away.
• A charged phone with a power bank. Your phone is your most important safety tool: it calls for help, shares your location and records what happens.
• A torch, such as a head torch, if you walk in the dark (Avon and Somerset Police).
• Safety apps. Many universities use SafeZone, which connects you to campus security (see sf-06), and your phone already has built-in emergency features (below).
• The best tool of all is free: awareness, planning and leaving early. The Personal Safety module (ps-01 to ps-04) covers these.

Set up your phone's emergency features

• iPhone: press and hold the side button and either volume button until the sliders appear, or turn on 'Call with 5 Presses' and press the side button five times quickly. The phone sounds a warning, counts down, then calls emergency services (Apple Support).
• After the call, the iPhone texts your emergency contacts with your location unless you cancel. Add contacts in the Health app under Medical ID (Apple Support).
• Android (12 or later): press the power button five times or more, then hold inside the red circle for three seconds or let the countdown finish (Google Android Help).
• Android's Emergency SOS can also record up to 45 minutes of video and share your location; it does not work in aeroplane mode or with Battery Saver on (Google Android Help).
• Set these up today, and test the settings screen with a parent. Do not trigger a real call to test it.

Knives: illegal for self-protection in the UK

• In England and Wales it is an offence to carry a bladed or pointed article in public without good reason; the only general exception is a folding pocketknife with a cutting edge of 3 inches (7.62 cm) or less (Home Office FAQ).
• Lock knives do not count as folding pocketknives, because they are not immediately foldable at all times (Home Office FAQ).
• Self-defence is not a good reason. A Bath and North East Somerset safeguarding guide states that in the eyes of the law, police and the courts, wanting to protect yourself is not seen as a good reason for carrying a weapon or knife.
• Carrying a bladed article or offensive weapon in public can lead to up to four years in prison and a fine (Home Office FAQ).
• Even everyday items can become offensive weapons in law if they are carried to cause injury (Home Office FAQ).

Pepper spray and other weapons

• In the UK, personal protection sprays using CS, Mace or OC pepper are prohibited weapons under section 5(1)(b) of the Firearms Act 1968 (Home Office Guide on Firearms Licensing Law).
• Knuckledusters, butterfly knives, telescopic truncheons and disguised knives are among the specified weapons covered by UK law (Home Office FAQ).
• Laws differ between countries and US states. If you are studying abroad, check the law where you live before buying any safety product.

The UAE position

• The UAE Crimes and Penalties Law (Federal Decree-Law No. 31 of 2021) penalises carrying sharp, cutting, piercing or crushing tools, unless this is for your profession or another lawful reason, according to a June 2025 Mondaq legal article on Article 405.
• Dubai Police have warned that carrying 'white weapons' such as knives, swords and batons can lead to prison or a fine (Khaleej Times, 2017).
• No official UAE source was found on pepper spray or stun devices, so the safe rule is simple: do not carry them.
• In the UAE, your legal tools are the same as anywhere: your phone, 999, a personal alarm, and getting to a safe place.