As I indicated in my last post, I have started to contribute to a site called The Crime Report. I was reading their interview with International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Michael Carroll and fell off my chair.
According to Carroll, 60 percent of police chiefs do not require their officers to wear bullet resistant vests. If this is accurate, then all of them should be fired. Today. There is no excuse.
I have heard all the arguments:
“Its not comfortable”
“Its too hot”
“I can’t move in it, so in fact it is less safe.”
“They are so expensive”
Please, cut me a freakin break. Thousands of lives have been saved by vests. Officers in the Arizona desert wear them, and countless officers have been involved in hand-to-hand encounters wearing them and survived. There is no excuse.
Now, the money thing is interesting. A good vest costs close to $1000.00. So I can see a small town struggling with that budget reality. The fact is there are grant programs to buy them, and if your department has even one car, one radio, and one jail cell, then you can make cuts to get a vest for your one cop. There is no excuse.
If any of you are working right now and do not have a vest on, please go get it. If you are not provided one, please make some noise. And please write back and let me know what your department / chief thinks of wearing a vest…
