Been done that way since Luke opened in 1972. With the money worries in Ohio, don’t see that happening on laundry. But, would rather clean and press my own. Did that in the military for 4 years. Not a problem.

Commander I certainly would not be happy to know inmates were cleaning my duty uniforms. Its bad enough working the floors or tiers all day long or nights in uniforms that touch inmates or bars, floors on a normal shift let alone during backup calls. I’m not sure but the officers union might be able to force the issue of having outside cleaners do your uniforms for safety reasons.

Yeah, here in TDCJ they call us the goon squad or jump out boys.

Yeh thats a fact. Inmates called us the black glove gang or the black glove mafia. I never really understood how a pair of gloves equals out to intimidation but guess thats thinking outside my pay grade. Street cops use them all the time its for “officer safety” reasons, yet if someone complains the usual response centers around the safety concerns for the officers and most concern with intimidation gets swept under the rug. Not that I’m saying its wrong but in my head a C/O’s safety is just as important as any other LE officer. As commander said we walked around with PR24’s, cuffs, OC canisters and sometimes more than that. Are my gloves really more frightening than a big stick?

I agree with both Jamestown and Irish assassin. I remember all the BS we put up with for wearing the black kevlar lined gloves. Called us the BGG didn’t they Assassin. Black Glove Gang. After numerous meetings with the Warden and DWO, myself and numerous others convinced them of the importance of wearing the gloves for our safety. I mean, wow, we carried a duty belt with cuffs, OC and a PR-24. If that doesn’t intimidate a person what would black gloves due. After the Easter Sunday riot in 1993, our Warden dressed out our SRT (in black) every day, every shift. Inmates started complaining about intimidation and fear of leaving their cells. So the Warden quit that practice. During that time, we had almost no incidents involving UOF. I used to change at work but, Inmates clean our uniforms and I couldn’t wrap my brain around that. I would take mine off at home and was it myself. Putting on latex and then the black gloves seems to work fine. Remember to clean the black gloves after using them. Anti-bacterial soap and water is good. Let them dry out and then put them on to stretch them back out.

I agree with using universal protection of some kind. You certainly don’t want to carry some of those crappy diseases inmates have home with you. I used to work with a CO that never wore gloves in the strip search room where we hold onto inmate clothes when they are searched. I told him that he is nuts for not wearing gloves but he said, “oh I wash my hands right after.” The other thing that I did was change my uniform at work into civilian clothes. That way if the uniform was soiled in a fight the laundry would be done by an outside cleaner and I would wear a fresh uniform the next shift. We were issued 4 sets of uniforms (shirts and pants), shoes were issued new every 18 months.

ODR&C supplies us with the latex or nitrile gloves, which work fine for certain tasks. However in my mind patting down inmates and searching property or areas isn’t one of those tasks. Like many other officers I spent my own money and got a set of the kevlar lined leather gloves. As Mick said asking a pre-search “come clean” question usually helps but keep in mind inmates don’t always give honest answers. We had the same “inmates are intimidated” by your safety equipment BS to deal with. But I still use them to search cells, common areas, mattresses, etc.

Damascus cut/puncture resistant. Kevlar/spectra blend.

I personally keep both with me. When responding depending on the situation is when I decide (if time allowed) which gloves im going to use. I use my cloth gloves when doing cell searches just in case I were to touch a needle or something of that sort. When extracting a violent inmate that appears to be bleeding or sweating I make sure that I use latex. Everyone has their own ways though. There have been times when immediate force was needed and cant use either so its easy to plan for but when “it hits the fan” do what you gotta do!

“get em before they get you”

Pat down gloves are excellent for backup calls where you might have to restrain an inmate during a fight or assault. If you wear the latex gloves in a restraint situation you might find they are too smooth (slippery) to effectively grab an inmate to restrain them. I had that happen once when a juvenile inmate went under a bunk and we had to pull him out to restrain him. The latex gloves kept sliding off his arms because he was soaking wet. Another officer in front of me help pull him out while she was wearing pat down gloves. During the past year NYS Corrections Officers were banned from using pat down gloves (black) because an inmate filed a grievance that the gloves “were intimidating.”

Within my jurisdiction we changed from using the latex glove while performing clothed searches to issuing search gloves to our members. These are made of turtleskin, needle stick proof finger tips as well as cut resistant palms. these can be cleaned after each use.
We do receive some complaints from members, the feel is minimized, but if the offender has an edged weapon and/or a needle on their person, they will be protected while the officer with the latex will end up with a skin puncture.
The gloves are kept on the duty belt and not placed in pockets. Members are also taught to ask the pre-search question similar to ’Mick’s’ response “Do you have anything on your person that can cut, poke or do harm to me? any open sores fresh tatoos or piercings do you want to disclose before I search you?” This does work and lessens the issues. Hope this helps.

I can’t improve on Mick’s response. I normally wear latex gloves when doing individual pats or area searches. They are a real pain in the summer, though, because my hands sweat so bad. I’ve never found a good way to get around that, but prefer wrinkly, prune looking hands to the alternative. In a pinch, such as patting down during chow, the food service prep gloves are better than nothing.

We use the medical rubber gloves.The first question I always ask is "Do you have anything sharp or likely to cause me an injury before I start ? " You would be surprised at how many of them will tell you if they have. Because they know that if you get stuck the punishment would a lot harsher than would be for just the possession of the item.
When you are doing a pat down you should not be putting your fingers/hands into pockets or areas of clothing you cannot see. If you think they may have something concealed in their clothing them make them take that piece of clothing off. That way you can investigate the object more safely. Secondly the rubber gloves are disposable. Do you really want to be putting gloves back into your pocket/pouch that have been rummaging in some dirtbird’s clothes? As for cell searches we have the use of thick leather Anti Stick gloves for handling the likes of mattress’s otherwise we just use the rubber ones.

New Officer here and I apologize if the subject has been covered before but….
Do YOU wear “Pat Down” gloves or the standard issue medical type vinyl/rubber “medical” exam gloves ?

Any opinions on “the best” to wear for protection during pat downs and cell searches?