What do Police Officers wish they had two of?

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In case the attacker had a very long knife?

I doubt if it would be practical to wear a stab proof vest over another stab proof vest. Besides, most knives have a blade much longer than the thickness of a stabproof vest so the blade length wouldn't be the main issue. The main issue would be whether or not the vest worked. They're stab resistant rather than actually stab proof. The question is how resistant.

There's a German specialised police unit that goes proper old school when they're called in for cases where the attacker has a bladed weapon. They wear mail. What most people would call chainmail nowadays. Turns out that armour that was widespread and popular on battlefields for many centuries because it was very effective against bladed weapons is very effective against bladed weapons.
 
Soldato
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I doubt if it would be practical to wear a stab proof vest over another stab proof vest. Besides, most knives have a blade much longer than the thickness of a stabproof vest so the blade length wouldn't be the main issue. The main issue would be whether or not the vest worked. They're stab resistant rather than actually stab proof. The question is how resistant.

There's a German specialised police unit that goes proper old school when they're called in for cases where the attacker has a bladed weapon. They wear mail. What most people would call chainmail nowadays. Turns out that armour that was widespread and popular on battlefields for many centuries because it was very effective against bladed weapons is very effective against bladed weapons.

Yeah, I didn't consider that.
 
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I doubt if it would be practical to wear a stab proof vest over another stab proof vest. Besides, most knives have a blade much longer than the thickness of a stabproof vest so the blade length wouldn't be the main issue. The main issue would be whether or not the vest worked. They're stab resistant rather than actually stab proof. The question is how resistant.

There's a German specialised police unit that goes proper old school when they're called in for cases where the attacker has a bladed weapon. They wear mail. What most people would call chainmail nowadays. Turns out that armour that was widespread and popular on battlefields for many centuries because it was very effective against bladed weapons is very effective against bladed weapons.

Cost and how awkward the bulk is for daily use is probably a consideration - you can get for instance ballistic plates, which are light weight and not too bulky, that use advanced composites and penetrating one with a knife would be a superhuman feat! and will also stop anything below advanced .338 ammunition but probably too expensive for general police issue.
 
Man of Honour
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Cost and how awkward the bulk is for daily use is probably a consideration - you can get for instance ballistic plates, which are light weight and not too bulky, that use advanced composites and penetrating one with a knife would be a superhuman feat! and will also stop anything below advanced .338 ammunition but probably too expensive for general police issue.

Coverage is another factor. You can't cover yourself in ballistic plates. You can cover yourself in mail. Mail will be damn all use against bullets that a ballistic plate would stop, but they use it specifically for situations where someone has a bladed weapon, not a gun. Or a bow - a powerful bow will put a bolt or arrow through mail. They use it against bladed weapons, which it is extremely resistant to. Proof against cutting, extremely resistant to stabbing except with a spike. Certainly good enough against some nutter with a blade.

Cost wouldn't be the issue because this isn't a matter of "general police issue". It's a specialised unit, a very small proportion of the police, and Germany is a rich country.

You might get better protection by making full plate harness from ballistic plate material, but that would be overkill in this scenario. Probably not practical. If it was, the military would probably have tried it.
 
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You got it!

Nowadays, of course, it's disposable gloves but go back a few years and officers wore the same gloves throughout a shift. Some of the things you had to deal with were disgusting and the gloves were just wiped... yuk!

Socks were a close second ... (Quote) “wearing a pair of damp socks inside your boots for the rest of your shift was unpleasant in the extreme”

I carry probably about 5 pairs of nitrile gloves on me at any one time, especially for those places where you need to double or triple glove. I also have decent boots (Altberg Peacekeepers) , so I've never had wet feet even when I've been going through fields and farms.
 
Soldato
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I carry probably about 5 pairs of nitrile gloves on me at any one time, especially for those places where you need to double or triple glove. I also have decent boots (Altberg Peacekeepers) , so I've never had wet feet even when I've been going through fields and farms.

Bulky, but a pair of sealskin socks is nice to have, just for when you plunge into something far deeper than expected. I always have a pair in my pack since I had to jump into stream to save a dog - was only a mile or two home, but it felt terrible. Since then I've never had to use them but have given a sock to a companion on a few occasions!
 
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Bulky, but a pair of sealskin socks is nice to have, just for when you plunge into something far deeper than expected. I always have a pair in my pack since I had to jump into stream to save a dog - was only a mile or two home, but it felt terrible. Since then I've never had to use them but have given a sock to a companion on a few occasions!

a sock? Just one? I have this odd image of a police officer hopping back with one wet foot and one dry one.
 
Soldato
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a sock? Just one? I have this odd image of a police officer hopping back with one wet foot and one dry one.

Actually always a single sock! It's not unusual if walking across rough ground, one foot goes down into a hole - normally a wet hole. Thus one drowned boot and one dry boot.
 
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