NCJ Number
182923
Journal
Law and Order Volume: 48 Issue: 4 Dated: April 2000 Pages: 90-94
Date Published
April 2000
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article describes improvements in police body armor over the last 5 years.
Abstract
Material for this article was developed largely from an interview with Lance Miller, the testing manager for the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center, which is a program of the National Institute of Justice in Rockville, Md. He has witnessed the rapid change in soft body armor over the last 5 years. Miller notes that body armor manufacturers are using a wider variety of materials and manufacturing design techniques to produce improvements in body armor. One improvement has been the cutting of the weight of the vests almost in half while maintaining the same and even improved level of protection. An interview was also conducted with the Director of Research of Second Chance, a pioneer in offering and promoting concealed body armor for police officers. He indicated that body armor is available to the general public, but only after careful screening by local police. When asked about light jackets made from ballistic fibers that could preclude the wearing of the vest and offer protection to the arms, the Second Chance representative stated that such a garment is currently available, but is very expensive and would have difficulty in meeting the technology standards of the National Institute of Justice. The industry anticipates that in the next 5 years there will be hard armor for rifle-fire protection that weighs less than 20 pounds.