WAFF-TV: News, Weather and Sports for Huntsville, ALDeadly items that may be in plain sight

The death of Mobile Police Officer Steven Green sheds a whole new light on the term "concealed weapon."

Mobile Police say Lawrence Wallace, Jr. used a blade hidden in his necklace to stab Green at the jail.

Wallace was arrested on burglary charges. Police say once he got to the jail, he overpowered Green. Wallace's stepfather, Charlie Harden, told our NBC affiliate WPMI in Mobile that he believes Wallace made the jewelry. Harden says he attended Bishop State where he graduated as a designer of jewelry.

We've all seen the obvious items made to cause harm like pistols, but what about the not so easy to spot. An umbrella with a nine inch steel spike can be used as a deadly weapon, or a knife shaped like a crucifix.

Michael Dorn is the Executive Director of Safe Havens International. Safe Havens is a global non-profit that produces training videos for roughly 100,000 police departments and school districts in about 30 countries.

"There are also working calculators with knives in them, lipstick, hair brushes, a variety of different types of jewelry. Items that contain blades, other types of weapons," said Michael Dorn, Executive Director of Safe Havens International.  

Dorn is a former police officer who knows how difficult it is to keep up with ever-growing threats.

"You have to closely inspect everything when you search a prisoner or if you're doing weapons screening which is a lot of what we teach," he said. 

Dorn helps educators and officers to recognize items made for show and items made for pain. He says many of the items he uses in demonstrations are made for less than $10.

Dorn says recognition of concealed weapons is key to prevention, but it's also important to notice the way people act.

"Those dedicated public servants who go out there, like Officer Green, risk their lives to make us safe. We just want to give them every tool they can to be able to do that and not be harmed," Dorn added. 

Dorn said Green's murder shows just how challenging it is for law enforcement to protect us and protect themselves.

The funeral for Officer Steven Green will take place Wednesday at 11 a.m. in Mobile. He leaves behind a wife and three children. Officer Green joined the Mobile Police Department in May of 2010.

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