Newly signed law allocates $25-mil. yearly for bulletproof vests
A grant through the Bulletproof Vest Program (“BVP”), reauthorized this past week, allocates 25 million dollars each year through 2020 for police officers across the country.
President Obama made the announcement Monday at a Medal of Valor ceremony honoring 13 public safety officers.
“Men and women who run toward danger remind us with your courage and humility what highest form of citizenship looks like,” President Obama said during the ceremony.
The program helps law enforcement buy bulletproof vests and has been utilized by the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office for years.
According to Lieutenant Ed Shreier, public information officer for the agency, says they would buy vests using their budget and then apply for reimbursement from the federal government. About 50 percent would be given back to the county.
Lieutenant Shreier explains it’s a huge help financially, considering just one bullet-proof vest costs anywhere from 400 dollars to over one-thousand.
“Different officers like different types of vests,” he explains. “Some officers like the outer carriers, they’re like your shirt so it looks like a shirt.”
The program was last authorized by Congress in 2008. Its charter expired in 2012 and reportedly failed to pass Congress until last week.
According to Lieutenant Shreier, that does not mean deputies at the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office have been going unprotected; however, they have been paying for vests without reimbursement.
He tells us vests generally last for up to five years before they need to be replaced and with the program available again, they will consider seeking federal funds for future purchases.
“If the opportunity is there to use it, we will,” he tells 47ABC. “We have a constant need to supply our officers with safety equipment, vests being one of them and that’s paramount. That’s not something we’re going to skimp on.”
According to the Department of Justice, This program has served more than 13,000 jurisdictions since 1999. This equates to about 412-million dollars federal funding for a purchase of about one-million vests nationwide.
For a copy of the bill, click here.
