June 25, 2011

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Dallas cops make body armor mandatory

Officers without vests 14 times more likely to be injured, FBI study finds

By Tanya Eiserer
The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS — The federal government has been pushing law enforcement agencies to make all uniformed police wear bulletproof vests following a sharp increase in the number of officers killed in the line of duty in 2010. An FBI study found that an officer who was not wearing a vest was 14 times more likely to be injured in the line of duty.

To get departments to adopt mandatory-wear policies, the Justice Department decided that it would not grant law enforcement agencies funds for body armor - which amounted to about $100,000 annually in Dallas - unless they enact such a policy.

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On Monday, Police Chief David Brown announced that all uniformed patrol officers must wear bulletproof vests, as well as uniformed officers working jobs that involve acting in an enforcement capacity, uniformed officers working off-duty jobs, and uniformed officers of any rank participating in public activities or meetings outside the workplace. Non-uniformed officers taking part in such things as serving warrants or making arrests will also have to wear vests.

The policy is effectively immediately, but officers have 90 days to buy, refit or replace an old vest.

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