How Has Riot Gear Changed Over the Years?

Riot gear is an essential part of the equipment that a police officer needs to do their job safely. The situations where riot gear is necessary are dangerous, and oftentimes, filled with potential hazards involving volatile crowds that are unpredictable. The riot police need to protect themselves by diffusing hostile scenarios with a variety of non-lethal weapons and have the right suits to keep themselves safe.

Top-notch riot gear includes many items that are state-of-the-art and advanced to help our fine police officers do their jobs in the most effective way possible. That means keeping comfort, safety, and mobility in mind for long hours on the job.

Riot gear has changed over the years to include many up-to-date items that weren’t available in the past with newer materials and beneficial additions.Let’s look at the history of how riot gear has evolved over the years including how the newest technology from Haven Gear is revolutionizing the way police forces are protected.

View What Riot Gear Includes

From the earliest days of using riot gear, it generally includes a protective suit of armor, helmets, batons, and weapons to subdue large crowds including non-lethal ones like rubber bullets, tear gas, and pepper spray.

The history of police riot gear goes back to law enforcement and the military overseas learning how to effectively subdue an angry mob during the early 20th century. Before that, there wasn’t really a dedicated way to deal with a riot and excessive force was used with many casualties. Learning how to cope with aggravated crowds in a non-lethal way was pioneered by the French in 1921. Their mobile republican guards with around 60 police officers in Paris were trained to restore order in contentious situations.

Asia also pioneered some riot control maneuvers with their police in colonial Shanghai in 1925 in response to mismanaging previously hostile crowds. In those days, most of what the police had in the way of riot gear to use was a protective shield and helmet. Those two items were designed to protect the wearer from people throwing objects, like bottles and rocks, at them.

The other problem was that many times in a riot situation, people would grab weapons and side arms the officers were carrying. That’s why the development of holsters with locking mechanisms was invented to solve this serious issue.

Today’s Modern Gear

Today, the Haven Gear riot gear suits are so much more than just a helmet and shield. Plus, we’re hard at work researching new weapon technology for making more effective riot control devices to be used by law enforcement and military police all over the world.

For example, a modern package we offer with unparalleled safety of next-gen riot suits is our Enforcer MVP. This is full coverage MOLLE with many different carriers built in so that the officer can be prepared with whatever they may need in intense riot situations. It’s full protection from head-to-toe that is lightweight and a breeze to move around quickly while wearing. Some of the other features are that its fire, blunt force, and stab-resistant. In order to increase the comfort level of the officer, the suit has two integrated factors, cooling, and hydration.

Body cameras can be easily used on this suit and all identifying information about the law enforcement professional are seen from every angle with our intelligent “4-way ID system.” Intense tactical scenarios and critical life-threatening situations need the advancements that this type of modern-day riot suit from Haven Gear can provide.

The suit comes in sizes to fit everyone on a police force riot or swat teams from XS to XXXL, with custom sizes available if needed. The materials are molded polypropylene, nylon, and hooks with loops. Every aspect of this modern riot suit has been carefully considered and made to be effective in subduing rowdy crowds.

A Full Line of Modern Riot Accessories

Haven Gear also makes a full line of additional modern riot gear for police units. For example, the two types of modern riot batons we make are durable polycarbonate in 34 or 28-inch models attached to a lanyard that helps it stay on the wrist.

Old school riot batons were typically made of wood or steel and weren’t very easy to carry with that extra weight. The new materials make the riot baton easier to maneuver and hold for long periods of time.

That’s a big change over the years for riot gear and training.

Contact Haven Gear

If you have any questions about how beneficial all the modern-day riot gear is for any police force, contact us at Haven Gear. We are more than happy to tell you all about our full line of riot gear essentials that will outfit any police force in the absolute best way possible.