Ballistic - Resistant vest standards

Deanna Rivard: The bulletproof vest program is an opportunity for departments, if they have a policy in place for a mandatory vest policy, then the federal government will actually reimburse a portion of the funds for their officers to actually get fitted for a vest and actually have a vest issued to them. ASTM International is teaming up with the National Institute of Justice to develop a standard for fit and measuring of body armor. So essentially, at our first meeting, I went to a meeting about six months ago, and the biggest gripe that we had with officers not wearing their vests is because it wasn't fit properly. So after about two days of discussions and we kind of kept coming back to the same issue was it wasn't being fitted properly, the NIJ approached the ASTM to develop a fit and measurement standard. There's no second chances, you know? If you're wearing a vest, the chances of it saving you are so much higher. There is no guarantee, but you know what? I would rather have a little bit added protection. You go into the field, you have your gun, you don't go to work without your gun, you don't go to work without all the equipment on your belt, it's a part of your uniform; it's a part of your duty belt. It's that extra tool in your pocket that's going to potentially save your life.