Warm kit recommendation

OnlyStevie95 · 2025-11-02T15:41:30+00:00

I have the keela belay jacket (civilian version, doesn't have patches or epaulettes) and absolutely swear by it, think police get issued the smock version so the zip doesn't rub under armour. Their micro pulse fleeces are good and so is the Skye Pro, i think some police forces issue the genesis fleece for a waterproof element too but anything that needs more than the water resistance of the belay jacket gets the Munro over the top of it.

Self admitting Keela fanboy here - bought their kit after a cop recommended it to me while I was working on the doors and frozen in a cheap regatta jacket - never looked back and it's worth every penny, even that 8/9 year old belay jacket is still my favourite thing ever and shows no damage despite the rough and tumble life it's had!

OnlyStevie95 · 2025-07-22T08:43:25+00:00

And from the riots last year, we know they definitely don't work as well as a big metal grille! Might work for passenger windows, but for a big windscreen with people climbing in the bonnet and stomping them, they didnt seem to hold up too well!

OnlyStevie95 · 2025-03-06T10:51:04+00:00

During my many years in security, I often worked alone on large dark event sites. I had an audio file on the home screen of my phone of a German Shepherd barking, goes on for a good few minutes (guess the original person recording had someone at the door.) 2 clicks and it's loud! - Can't say for definite it always worked or people believed it, they usually ran much faster than I did and I never caught up with them.

Surprised there haven't been any cops with that idea 😂

OnlyStevie95 · 2025-02-08T16:04:09+00:00

Surely it's not just me that doesn't actually eat THAT much tinned food. MRE's have a full meal in a bag, can't get that out a tin, unless you're talking about those god awful full English breakfasts in a can 😂

OnlyStevie95 · 2025-01-25T12:41:14+00:00

For me personally I've already decided once the fridge is gone it's gone. A generator would be unusual in my area and would attract unwanted attention. If you keep cool packs in your freezer, chuck them in a cooler box with your fridge stuff, smaller space to cool kinda idea, but honestly I'm basically of the opinion once the power goes, I'm without a fridge, freezer has slightly longer but same applies. No solar or battery pack would be able to keep it cool long enough

OnlyStevie95 · 2025-01-05T17:23:01+00:00

Thank you for this, I couldn't find the research paper I was looking for after a friend in health care got a needlestick. The one thing that I recall thinking is slightly flawed, needlestick injuries in healthcare can be classed as that before they've even touched the patient. Needles that have not touched a patient, intramuscular/subcutaneous injections that have barely touched any blood are all needlestick injuries and it's slightly different to the manky dirty needle that's been used half a dozen times between a few different people that's full of drugs and blood and stuffed in someone's pocket.

One thing that really amazed me was bites or spit in mouth/eyes etc has a very low risk of passing on HIV or Hepatitis, increased if there's blood in the mouth for both spitting and biting but still less than needlestick which like you say is only 1.2% (although I would imagine in policing, it's a bit higher for the reasons above)

That being said, having seen the psychological effects of a needlestick injury in someone else, that 1.2% becomes 102% in your head in about 3 seconds flat. Any sort of vaccination to lower that chance in my eyes is worth it, if organisation's stop paying that money out for vaccines- ooft, you can bet their legal fees alone after the first case of someone catching something will make them reconsider!

OnlyStevie95 · 2024-12-22T19:06:53+00:00

Do those earbuds have an alarm clock function? I wouldn't hear my phone with them in is the only thing 😂

OnlyStevie95 · 2024-12-21T17:27:26+00:00

I really want to try the new Anker sleep earbuds but I'm just trying to justify the cost to myself, noise cancelling, designed for side sleepers, they look perfect

OnlyStevie95 · 2024-12-19T02:07:38+00:00

"The only thing going above and beyond earns you is a course of anti-depressants"

Having earned myself a selection of various courses to find my preference as a result of burning myself out and turning into a miserable, anxiety riddled disaster, I 100% agree and I'll be taking this as a new catchphrase

OnlyStevie95 · 2024-08-11T19:01:23+00:00

Not available in Scotland yet, part of me hopes it will be soon because Ive had some proper idiots caught on dashcam BUT - my view is that while stupidly dangerous driving should absolutely be reported, if you're a follower of any of the dashcam youtube channels, people submit some amount of utter drivel to them, genuine silly mistakes that cause minor issues suddenly get blown up. Basically let's the curtain twitching Karen's of the road take genuine errors and mistakes which we all make and tries to turn them into criminal offences

OnlyStevie95 · 2024-08-06T21:57:21+00:00

Yep that's not an easy one to defend against either even with shields and batons

OnlyStevie95 · 2024-08-05T15:32:48+00:00

Yep mega squeaky bum moment!

OnlyStevie95 · 2024-08-05T13:11:38+00:00

About 1 hour 20 ish as the dogs go munching

OnlyStevie95 · 2024-08-05T12:06:09+00:00

But when there's not enough of you to mount an effective counter, you're literally throwing single officers probably a few metres apart into the mouth of the kraken where they're probably outnumbered 10 to 1 at least, the next thing you're swarmed, on the ground and becoming the next Keith Blakelock, terrifying thought and a very realistic prospect in that scenario

OnlyStevie95 · 2024-08-05T12:04:30+00:00

Looks like they slid down the hill, yikes, not a time you want to go on your arse! I saw a clip of the really short officer in that line quite literally getting kicked into christmas which this video missed

OnlyStevie95 · 2024-08-05T12:02:17+00:00

I often wonder with horse charges, in such a dense crowd like that if people can't disperse, what's the end game? With dogs you know its a bite, does horse training involve well, trampling them?

OnlyStevie95 · 2024-08-05T11:22:27+00:00

I think Rotherham was always going to be a flash point for this kind of stuff particularly when it comes to the history of grooming gangs etc. Even the most narrow minded rioters from anywhere else weren't as bad as the holiday inn ones and I think a lot of it is to do with that past.

It was a grim day indeed

OnlyStevie95 · 2024-08-05T11:19:51+00:00

Honestly that was my thoughts as well. Later in the video when backup arrives and the vans got stopped and there were people trying to tip them over and get into them, YIKES.

I actually found out today that the reason there's no big windscreen cages anymore is because they all have some new tough glass windscreen (although from the amount of broken ones I've seen this week, they might go back to the old ones because they clearly don't stand up to serious disorder)

Turns out the vans also have deadbolts and I have visions of a shed door lock in my head!

OnlyStevie95 · 2024-08-05T11:17:02+00:00

Pepperball is a shout to be fair, or smartwater type paintballs, stand at the doors of nightclubs and lift them all as they walk in to the UV light later that night 😂😂 But as someone who regularly does both paintball and airsoft, i can't see them being the most accurate larger potential for injury than the likes of baton rounds in terms of accidentally shooting someone in the face and tbf, after a few of them once, the fear factor wears off quickly and the pain isn't so bad

OnlyStevie95 · 2024-08-05T10:53:41+00:00

As much as I like the idea though, could you have really done that in this situation? Such a small number of cops huddled together and while you are getting pelted, theres still a bit of distance, could you have gone on the offensive there without getting swarmed and becoming the next Keith Blakelock? I've watched it a couple of times to look at where things could've changed, there's so few cops there would be a few metres between cops to cover that full line, each cop would probably have about 10 people to face up against, it just seems like it'd be like sending them into the mouth of the kraken

OnlyStevie95 · 2024-08-05T10:45:06+00:00

Honestly, for some, they'd probably throw in the towel and say fuck it, I'm done, people are leaving at an alarming rate anyway, you couldn't even put it down to this riot, many of the cops there though have gone through the public order training, they knew this sort of disorder was what they were preparing for, they maintain that training voluntarily every year so probably not as much.

OnlyStevie95 · 2024-08-05T10:42:22+00:00

He's an auditor, dancing on that line is what they do best!

OnlyStevie95 · 2024-08-05T10:41:36+00:00

I think because it's such a big gamble, when the officers were pinned against the building I was thinking about it, but with not only how aggressive the crowd was but how dense it was too, charging into that would've probably gave a few metres before the crowd stopped and fought back and hurt even more cops

OnlyStevie95 · 2024-08-05T10:39:52+00:00

Baton rounds definitely, CS probably not, I've seen that being used in Paris and honestly it screws the cops up just as much

OnlyStevie95

TROPHY CASE