Knife detection ‘gloves’ rolled out by West Mercia

West Mercia Constabulary is introducing hand-worn metal detectors to officers in Telford to help combat knife crime.

Having been successfully trialled by local policing teams in Wellington, five of these metal detectors have now been purchased with funding from Telford’s Safer and Stronger Communities Partnership.

Wellington’s local policing inspector Richard Langton said: “Although thankfully knife crime is still relatively rare in the borough of Telford and Wrekin, Telford police are absolutely committed to making sure this remains the case. We are determined to keep local residents as safe as we can and I very much hope that this new equipment will help us to reduce the incidents of knife and weapon crime in Telford.”

Each metal detector – known as the ‘MIT’ – is worn on the hand like a glove and is surprisingly comfortable and easy to use. They can be worn covertly, under a glove and jacket sleeve, or overtly as a deterrent.

Insp Langton added: “I am really pleased with the feedback we have received when wearing the MIT. People have stopped me in the street to talk about it and many young people, in particular, have shown an interest.

“The MIT not only allows us to thoroughly search anyone that we arrest on arrival at the police station, but for the first time we have the ability to conduct such a search on the street.

“This is a great stride forward for officer safety and may well help us to locate a concealed weapon without the need for a more intrusive search.

“The units are so sensitive that they can even pick up something as small as a safety pin.

“If a metal object is detected, the MIT vibrates silently to alert the user in such a way that the person being searched would be unaware that the object had been detected.”