The BAKER BATSHIELD® was born out of the 30 year evolution of tactical “Bunker” shields, first introduced to American law enforcement in the early 1980’s.
The BAKER BATSHIELD® represents a refined product that is the personal culmination of expertise gained during my personal training of over 500 law enforcement and military tactical shield teams for over a decade. Lessons learned during training combined with my NYPD tactical experience during numerous room entries and barricade situations helped create this revolutionary concept.
The product evolution began with a vision… tactical operators need a lightweight, high speed, “stealth” ballistic shield. This shield would be capable of deploying simultaneously with one individual operator who would mount a long gun or sub-machine gun together with the shield and be capable of rapid deployment - combined with superior firepower and optimum ballistic protection with negligible loss of mobility.
Baker Batshield® first delivered this new shield design to American Law Enforcement Agencies in mid-2004, shortly after the award of the first U.S Patent (#6,595,101) confirming the unique properties of my invention. Once again, I was soon humbled to learn from the collective knowledge and experiences of my law enforcement brethren.
It was quickly apparent that the greatest demand for my new invention was not from the originally intended SWAT tactical operator, but from the patrol sector of law enforcement. The average patrol first responder is the most likely law enforcement asset to face a dangerous and dynamic situation. Up until the advent of the Baker Batshield®, personal ballistic shields were too heavy and bulky to be transported and utilized during patrol. The Baker Batshield® has opened up a new realm of personal safety to the patrol officer and the public to whom they are sworn to protect.
- Al Baker, Founder/Inventor