Any serious look at Security technology has to mention body armour or stab proof clothing. Sadly an increasingly important piece of today’s PPE. TPSO asked CEO of the leading international manufacturer PPSS, Robert Kaiser, about the latest developments.
Ultimate Protection From Edged Weapons
The rise of knife crime is now an international issue and reports of stabbings in the news increases fear and worry in communities.
However, there is nothing new about knife crime: sharp objects, blades and knives have been used as weapons for thousands of years. But what has changed is the type of edged weapons being used, as well as the severity of the attacks and crimes committed. The recent attack at London’s Westminster Bridge, which saw a terrorist using a blade to kill two innocent people just highlights once again how real this threat to today’s society really is.
This is not an isolated UK issue. Many western countries suffer from the very same problem right now.
In 2016, two soldiers were attacked by a man with a knife in Belgium, and a few months ago, a prisoner on a day holiday stabbed two police officers before taking their guns and shooting them. On 20 November 2018 a police officer was attacked by a knife-wielding man outside a police station in Brussels.
Newspapers in Germany also reported about a serious increase in knife crime, telling us that “…more than 1,600 knife-related crimes were reported in Germany during just the first five months of 2017, an average of 300 each month, or 10 each day.” On 20 July 2018, at least 14 people have reportedly been wounded, two of them seriously, in a knife attack on a bus in Lubeck, Germany.
On 13 May 2018, four people were injured and one was killed when a knife-wielding assailant shouting ’Allahu akbar’ attacked them in Paris. Another incident that made the news in France was when seven people were injured, by a man wielding a knife and an iron bar. The list goes on and on.
Even in countries such as China, knife crime is booming. Two headlines which really stood out to me in recent years are the following:
“33 people were killed and 130 more were injured when a group of men coordinated a terror attack using knives at a train station in southwest China’s Yunnan Province.”
“50 workers at a Chinese coal mine were killed in a coordinated knife attack. 50 more workers were injured.”
Religious and political extremism, drugs, poverty and social exclusion, social media and serious mental illnesses are all too blame for the increase of knife crime and the severity of crimes committed utilising such weapon.
The fact that knives are commonly available makes them the number one choice of weapon now for gang members, criminals and terrorists alike.
Buying, selling, importing or exporting and transporting firearms have become too high a risk for most of these individuals. Intelligence services and the law enforcement community have improved their services and intelligence sharing so much, meaning the risk of someone just touching a gun is so high, they would most likely be ‘picked up’ days before they are actually able to commit the serious crime they had planned.
Knives are also much more concealable. The desire of people to want to conceal their weapon is based on the fact that it is a crime in many countries to carry an offensive weapon and they wish to avoid detection and arrest. A knife is easier to conceal than a firearm, hence more criminals move from carrying firearms to carrying knives. The desire for certain military or government personnel to carry a concealed weapon e.g. knife, is of course of a different nature.
Also, knives are being used more and more because there really is no training required for the attacker to be effective. To purchase a firearm is one thing, to fire a gun and hit a target from a reasonable distance to avoid identification and arrest, is a completely different matter altogether. A knife is easy to use. It almost doesn’t matter where you stab the body, it will hurt a lot and likely kill that person (subject to the point of entry or number of stabs).
All this is the reason why PPSS Group has spent countless of hours in R&D and ultimately ended up engineering and designing the next generation of high-performance body armour, taking personal protection to a completely new-found level.
We simply believe that those charged with protecting us and securing our infrastructure, events and properties require better protection that currently made available to them.
Made from Auxilam™, a unique carbon fibre composite material, this latest body armour will protect the wearer from even the most vicious and brutal types of edged weapon and shanks imaginable.
Take a look at this video if you can: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtE2BrJrKLo
(A very dramatic demo of some very impressive kit………. Ed.)
Utilising a combination of the incredible strength of carbon fibre, the auxetic properties of Auxilam™ technology and some additional ‘top secret’ assets derived from the specially developed composite structure, this next generation of body armour offers a truly outstanding balance of weight, protection, performance and durability.
Comparing it with our highly acclaimed polycarbonate-based stab resistant vests, we were able to reduce the thickness by 19% (utilising a 3.9mm carbon fibre composite) and a the aerial density and overall weight by 6.6%.
Yet, it will be certified to KR2/SP2 according to the UK Home Office Body Armour Standard, as well as NIJ Level 2 (Stab & Spike) and VPAM K2/D2 meaning it will offer a truly significant higher level of knife, spike and needle protection.
Thoroughly field tested, our new body armour will be made available from mid-January 2020.
Government agencies and security companies will be able to choose from an array of different styles, ranging from covert, overt to hi viz overt options, subject to operational risks, threats and duties, as well as design preferences.
Law Enforcement, Border Force, Immigration, Customs and Prison Officers as well as private security professionals are all being attacked by criminals carrying and using knives, machetes, shanks, blunt objects and hypodermic needles every day.
Our key objective was and is to protect those men and women even more effectively. Using the very latest in technology and following extensive research and development, our latest body armour is now offering previously unthinkable levels of protection.
It also offers exceptional, VPAM certified protection from blunt objects, effectively reducing the risks of blunt force trauma injuries e.g. internal bleeding.
Any life saved by this technology fully justifies the time and effort we spent to develop it.
Robert Kaiser – CEO of PPSS Group
Robert has grown PPSS Group into the force it is today. An internationally respected firm specialised in the design, manufacture and supply of high-performance body armour and PPE. His writing has been published in numerous security and gang violence focussed publications around the world.
