Duty Belt Medical: How Police Carry the IFAK

This is an equipment guide, not medical training. Get nationally accredited first aid or tactical casualty care training before you rely on any of it.

Photographed on shift

The officers in these photographs are Queensland Police Public Safety Response Team members on duty. On the lead officer's belt, low at the back, sits a Krieger Micro IFAK in black with the red first aid cross. The photograph answers the question serving members ask us most: where does medical go on a belt that is already full?

Why the rear of the belt

The rear centre of the belt is one of the few places both hands can reach. A duty belt is contested ground: holster on the dominant hip, taser and radio forward, cuffs and torch where policy puts them. You draw a holster a hundred times for every time you open an IFAK, so medical gives up the front of the belt and takes the position that suits how it gets used.

Reach decides that position. The arm nearest the injury may be the injured one, so the pouch sits where either hand can find it, and the red cross tells a colleague where to reach when you cannot point to it yourself. Mounted flat at the rear, it also stays clear of seatbelts and car seats through a full shift.

The case for staying small

The Micro IFAK measures 140mm by 100mm, about the size of a notebook. Bulky kit gets left in the locker after the first uncomfortable shift, and a pouch in a locker cannot treat anyone. A pouch that disappears against the belt line gets worn for years, so it is there on the day it matters.

The insert pulls out sideways from either end, and the pouch body stays mounted while the contents come free. Gloved hands, dark, one arm working: the mechanism is built for the conditions in these photographs.

Pairing it with a tourniquet

Most serving members we work with run the IFAK at the rear and a dedicated tourniquet pouch where a hand falls at the side. The tourniquet is the item you need fastest and one-handed, so it earns its own position. The IFAK carries what comes second: dressing, seals, gauze, gloves, shears.

Our guides on what goes inside an IFAK and setting up a working belt cover contents and layout. The law enforcement medical range has the black kit in these photographs.

Made in Australia, carried on duty

Kit proves itself when professionals carry it by choice, on shift, for years. We build the Micro IFAK in Australia and guarantee the workmanship for the life of the pouch.

Photographs courtesy of the Queensland Police Service, used with permission. Krieger Industries equipment is purchased and carried by individual officers and agencies; no endorsement by the Queensland Police Service is implied.