The catch is that many, if not most agencies specifically say that any "utility knife" carried by an officer is not carried as a weapon. An officer that has to fall back on using his utility knife in self defense has to articulate that he didn't have a chance to use a "real" weapon.I think its REAL important to train that way, it only make sense..But what do I know, I'm just a dumb street cop..Now for disarming practice I don't mind using the aluminum fixed blade trainers..The LE community needs a quality folder trainer for realistic training...
I'm not personally aware of any actual incidents where a cop has used a knife defensively; doesn't mean that they don't happen -- just that I haven't heard of them.