The gloves are on in knife crime fight

Edgmond parish council are set to put the idea of purchasing knife crime gloves for their local police force to members of their Police and Communities Together group.

The glove metal detectors, known as MITs, are used by police in a bid to ensure knife crime remains rare in rural areas.

And having been successfully trialled by staff from the Local Policing Teams in Wellington, five of these MIT’s have now been purchased with funding provided by Telford’s Safer & Stronger Communities Partnership.

But they can also be purchased at a discounted rate by parish councils and Edgmond parish clerk, Katrina Baker, also a member of Wrekin Area Committee, put the idea to the council at Monday night’s meeting.

She said: “This is an issue which has been brought forward by the Wrekin Area Committee who represent 26 local parish councils.

“We are looking at ways they could be of benefit to the police and Community Support Officers.

“They may be able to present to the new technology at schools so that they will act as a deterrent.”

Each metal detector is worn like a glove and can be used covertly, under a glove, jacket and sleeve, or overtly as a deterrent.

The units are so sensitive that they can detect safety pins and if a metal object is detected the MIT vibrates silently leaving the person being searched unaware an object had been detected.

Spokesman for Telford and Wrekin police, Chris Ammonds, said: “The pilot scheme in Wellington has been very successful and they are currently being used as part of Operation Pheonix in Newport as a new weapon to fight crime.

“We are now looking if there are opportunities for any local policing teams to use them.”

Wellington’s Local Policing Inspector Richard Langton added: “Although thankfully knife crime is still relatively rare in the Borough of Telford & Wrekin, Telford Police are absolutely committed to making sure this remains the case.

“We are always looking for new ways to reduce crime and the fear of crime in our towns and this new initiative demonstrates that willingness to try new ideas.

“This is a great stride forward for officer safety and I hope that this new equipment will both deter people from carrying weapons and help us to bring to justice those who do insist on carrying them.”