I see them sometimes wearing them. At first I thought it was just to look intimidating, but I looked online and apparently they are tactical gloves lined with kevlar to do things like prevent needle sticks when searching a subject. Which is confusing, I didn’t think kevlar was effective against stabbings or punctures.
Do those black gloves cops wear also have weighted knuckles, a few oz of powdered metal on the knuckles to make punches more effective?
They might not work against something pointed like a needle but they are good against an edged blade like a knife or razor. They also prevent the transmission of body fluids like sweat or blood.
The ones I’ve seen weren’t weighted.
If they can stop an edge, they are something other/more than kevlar - keylar can be cut with ordinary scissors. as can carbon fiber.
Both are exceedingly strong in tension (pulling on ends) - not so much shear (scissors - now you know why they are sometimes called ‘shears’.
I poked around on google, and most of the manufacturers seem to be a bit vague about exactly what they are made out of (our “patented fabirc”, etc.), though they do advertise them as kevlar gloves. One did say that it had an inner layer of kevlar “for protection against sharp objects” and an outer layer of synthetic non-skid leather designed to aid in “weapon retention”.
Everything looks cooler when you are wearing black leather gloves.
They’re going for that cool look.
Some are/can be. Usually those are sold as sap gloves and often are “fingertip-less”. Used to be all the rage among bouncers and more serious bad-asses back in the 70s.
(mine had a total of just under a pound a glove of a “heavy non-toxic alloy” and if I backhanded/hammer-punched you for real, bones could snap)
(bullet-“proof” clipboards, bean-bag nightsticks, shivs hidden in boots ------- aaaah, for the carefree days of our youth 
)
I saw a peace officer wearing such gloves helping a dog catcher pick up a small escaped dog hiding under a car; it bit both their hands during the process. The result was the dog catcher screaming and bleeding and the officer calmly commenting on the usefulness of his gloves (sans bleeding)
At least in my state they certainly are not weighted. That would be illegal and I want to keep my job.
If you are rolling on the pavement with someone your hands will get scraped up. Those hands will then be in contact with someone you would never think of touching if it wasn’t part of the job. Touching him and his scraped up skin and possibly other bodily fluids. Depending on the cost and quality of the gloves they may or may not be needle-proof but it is certainly more protection than bare skin.
So short answer: they are for touching icky people and for protecting your hands from injury.
A tight glove is a good thing to have on your hand if you intend to punch someone - it protects the knuckles and compresses the tissues and bones of the hand into a more solid mass.
Boxers sometimes wore skin-tight gloves during the transition between bare knuckle and gloved fights. Jim Corbett, who later won the heavyweight championship under Marquis of Queensbury rules, fought Peter Jackson for 61 rounds to a no contest wearing skin-tight gloves. And Jack Dempsey the Nonpareil, who won the middleweight championship, fought many of the bouts where he didn’t fight bare knuckle with skin tight gloves.
Regards,
Shodan
Any police instructor will tell you that punching someone is a really stupid thing to do – just a way to break bones in your hand, possible crippling da
[Sorry about the partial post – my cat decided to run across the keyboard and posted that incomplete message.]
Any police instructor will tell you that punching someone is a really stupid thing to do – just a way to break bones in your hand, with possible crippling damage, and almost guaranteed to lead to arthritis pain as you age.
Smart police officers use their nightsticks, batons, pepper sprat, mace, tasers, etc. – all of those are used first to subdue a combative arrestee. Punching with your fist (gloved or bare) is an absolute last resort, done only if you are unable to use any of those other tools.
I loved the “for weapon retention” bit.
Read: You’ll never leave your prints on the body or the “throw-down” you had to use…