Knife proof gloves sold as Christmas presents for police
Cynical marketing stunt? Or the perfect gift in Wild West Britain?
IT’S the Christmas gift for police officers that is a disturbing sign of our times: ‘anti-slash’ gloves that promise protection against knife attacks.
Sold for £42 a pair, the gloves – complete with the word POLICE on the cuff – are marketed as a ‘ very thoughtful’ present for relatives and friends to choose.
The gloves are made of militarygrade Spectra fibre fabric that London-based firm Blade Runner, which is selling the gloves, says is pound for pound 15 times stronger than steel.
Blade Runner’s unsettling advert suggests: ‘If you, or someone you love, works as a member of the British Police, there’s a small but thoughtful gift that could make all the difference to the work that they do.’ It adds: ‘Using your hands to protect your body is both a natural and instinctive act. Protecting these hands is both a loving and useful act, that will keep giving long after the last Christmas light has been taken down.’
But Ken Marsh, Chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, said: ‘It’s a crass stunt to market these gloves as the perfect present for your partner for Christmas in case they get slashed up.’
He added: ‘Police officers are facing a growing threat, but it is not up to individual companies to provide my colleagues with protective gear.’
Dismissing the gloves as a PR stunt, police sources said many forces already equip frontline officers with the protective clothing they need. But Lee Marks, of Blade Runner, said: ‘ Choosing a present for someone you love is difficult at the best of times and this Christmas, more than any other, we are selling anti-slash gloves in large numbers. They are a really useful Christmas present, helping to keep your loved one’s hands warm and safe.’
There have been a series of recent knife attacks against police officers as violence spirals in ‘ Wild West’ Britain. Last month, a policeman was stabbed at Ilford railway station in East London in what one police chief said was the latest example of an ‘epidemic’ of ‘senseless acts of violence’ against the emergency services.
In October, three Metropolitan Police officers were brutally attacked with a knife, all suffering wounds, after being called out to a fight in Islington, North London.