'This is a liability': Police should get reinforced glove training, neuroscientist says

A neuroscience specialistwho studied the same gloves that are central to criminal charges against an Ottawa police officer in the death ofAbdirahmanAbdi believes they're "a liability" for police, and should require special training before officers are allowed to use them.

CBC News bought a pair of the same reinforced gloves and showed them toMatthew Holahan, a neuroscience professor at Carleton University who researches memory, addiction and concussion.

"I think there should be some public concern about the use of these," he said Tuesday in an interview athis office, where he tried on a pair of Oakley Standard Issue assaultgloves reinforced with a carbon fibre plate over the knuckles.

"The police are out there to protect us and to serve us, and I think that ... bringing these gloves out may not be in that rationale or that philosophy ofprotect and serve."

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Sources have told CBC thatOakley Standard Issue assault gloves were worn by Const. Daniel Montsion during the confrontation with Abdi last year, and that they're beingconsidered a weapon by Ontario's police watchdog, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU).

The SIU charged Montsion with manslaughter, aggravated assault and assault with a weapon earlierthis month, and as part of his release conditions he's barred from possessing weapons and "any gloves with hardened knuckle plating."

The following week, Ottawa police Chief CharlesBordeleauordered an internalaudit of all gloves issued to officers for on-duty use.

'Very similar to a weapon'

Variations of reinforced gloves are wornby police throughout the province as protection from sharp objects, according to Bruce Chapman,president of the Police Association of Ontario. Some are purchased by police forces,and some by officers themselves.

The Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services is responsible for decidingwhat weapons police can use and also setstechnical standards for those weapons.

Gloves, including those that are reinforced, are not classified as weapons and therefore don't need to be approved for use.

Holahan said he thinks there's an argument to be made for classifying reinforced gloves as weapons, and believesthere's a difference between being struck by a bare fist and a fist protected with carbon fibre knuckle plating.

The structure of the human hand lessens the impact of a blow, but acarbon fibre plate increases it, Holahan said.

"You have the soft tissue, the muscle, the bone of thehuman hand that absorbs a lot of that impact that is going into the skull. That lessens that impactfulforce," Holahan said.

"Whereas when you have one of those gloves on, it notonly gives your hand much more stability... when thatimpact comes in it's very directed. All the impact, all the force, all the accelerationis going right to the brain. Whatever the target isis actually experiencing the full force."

As well, Holahan thinks people wearing reinforcedgloves would likely punch harder than someone wearing a regular glove or no glove at all, because it doesn't hurt.

"This is the same material that bikes are made from, and other types of strongmaterials. Yeah, this is a liability. To me, it isvery similar to a weapon. It's like using a pipe togo after somebody," he said.

'There should be specialized training'

The Ontario Police College doesn't train officers on how to use gloves, including reinforced gloves, according to the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services. Ottawa police don't have their own training on the gloves either, according to a police source.

Holahan is surprised by the lack oftraining for reinforced gloves.

"If there is a widespread use, then there should be specialized training. I would imagine they get specialized training on how to use their batons, how to use their weapons," Holahan said.

Basic training on when and how to use the gloves would help officers make decisions in dynamic situations, he said.

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"If they have that base training, they should be able to say, OK, this is when I should be using this glove and this is when I should not be.

"They have to be protected too, there's no doubt about that, but at the same time they have to be aware that when they're protecting themselves they might be producing damage to somebody else, and significant damage," Holahan said.