Drizzt
Member
The Indianapolis Star
April 30, 2003 Wednesday City final Edition
SECTION: STARWEST; Pg. 1W
LENGTH: 742 words
HEADLINE: More officers now fitted for safety;
At least 56% of nation's departments require the use of bulletproof vests
BYLINE: BY R. JOSEPH GELARDEN [email protected]
BODY:
Morgan County Sheriff Robert Garner is taking no chances.
"We lost a deputy, and I don't want that to happen any more if I can help it," he said.
That's why Garner last week ordered road patrol deputies to wear bulletproof vests while on duty. He also requires detectives to have them in their cars and ready for use.
Hendricks County's new sheriff, Jim Quearry, also ordered deputies to wear body armor since taking office Jan. 1. It doesn't matter if the day is hot and muggy. If Hendricks County deputies are on duty, the vest is mandatory.
"I want to err on the side of caution," Quearry said.
Although larger Indiana departments, including the Indianapolis Police Department, the Marion County Sheriff's Department and the Indiana State Police, say wearing body armor is optional, an increasing number of police agencies nationally are requiring it.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that in 2000, 56 percent of police agencies nationally required officers to wear body armor. That's up from 25 percent in 1990,
Such policies appear to be working. Body armor has been credited with saving the lives of more than 2,500 law enforcement officers since the 1970s.
Government and industry sources say that success is the result of technological improvements that have made vests lighter and stronger. The latest models, which can cost from $500 to $1,000, feature fibers such as DuPont's Kevlar that are stronger than steel and can stop most bullets.
No one can say for sure whether a vest might have saved the life of veteran Morgan County Sheriff's Deputy Dan Starnes, who was shot four times in the chest during a July 14, 2001, shootout with a burglary suspect. Starnes died a month later.
Garner was among the deputies called to the scene of that shooting. While Garner refuses to second-guess Starnes' decision not to wear a vest, it is clear that the event affected his thinking.
Indianapolis Patrolman Jason Thalheimer is often cited as an example of how vests can save lives. On Aug. 19, 2000, he jumped out of a patrol car to confront a suspect. Seconds later, he took a bullet in the center of his chest. The vest stopped it.
Body armor also can prevent officers from other types of injury. A vest saved a Marion County deputy from serious injury in a motorcycle spill during last year's Indianapolis 500 Parade.
"He was at Washington and Illinois streets on his motorcycle. He hit a curb and it launched him off the cycle," said Bart McAtee, a deputy chief for Marion County Sheriff Frank Anderson.
"He slid down the street and the pavement tore up his shirt. He would have been seriously injured, but he was wearing a vest," said McAtee.
Younger officers are more likely to wear body armor, McAtee said. That's often because they've become used to wearing vests during training, according to the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center.
"We have 245 uniformed officers and about 200 of them wear them, even though it is optional for all officers except those assigned to the K-9 and SWAT teams," McAtee said.
Another reason for the vests is that patrol deputies are seeing more and more suspects carrying heavy weapons, said Garner.
"We have a bunch of AK-47s (confiscated from suspects) in the property room," Garner said. "And those (bad) guys can really reach out and touch you with them," Garner said.
Hendricks County's Quearry, a retired federal agent of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, wore a vest for years.
"You never know when a little old grandma could panic and do something stupid, and kaboom something might happen," he said.
Call Star reporter R. Joseph Gelarden at 1-317-444-6885.
_____________________________________________
Fast facts on vests
* An estimated 150 police officers' lives are saved each year because they were wearing body armor.
* Of the 147 police officers nationally that died in the line of duty last year, 55 were shot to death. The most recent in Hendricks or Morgan counties was Daniel Starnes of the Morgan County Sheriff's Department in 2001.
* The FBI estimates that 42 percent of police officers shot and killed since 1980 would have been saved if they had been wearing body armor.
* The risk of dying from a gunshot is 14 times higher when an officer is not wearing body armor, according to the FBI.
* No police officers from 1985 to 1994 died from a gunshot that penetrated a vest, according to an FBI study.
April 30, 2003 Wednesday City final Edition
SECTION: STARWEST; Pg. 1W
LENGTH: 742 words
HEADLINE: More officers now fitted for safety;
At least 56% of nation's departments require the use of bulletproof vests
BYLINE: BY R. JOSEPH GELARDEN [email protected]
BODY:
Morgan County Sheriff Robert Garner is taking no chances.
"We lost a deputy, and I don't want that to happen any more if I can help it," he said.
That's why Garner last week ordered road patrol deputies to wear bulletproof vests while on duty. He also requires detectives to have them in their cars and ready for use.
Hendricks County's new sheriff, Jim Quearry, also ordered deputies to wear body armor since taking office Jan. 1. It doesn't matter if the day is hot and muggy. If Hendricks County deputies are on duty, the vest is mandatory.
"I want to err on the side of caution," Quearry said.
Although larger Indiana departments, including the Indianapolis Police Department, the Marion County Sheriff's Department and the Indiana State Police, say wearing body armor is optional, an increasing number of police agencies nationally are requiring it.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that in 2000, 56 percent of police agencies nationally required officers to wear body armor. That's up from 25 percent in 1990,
Such policies appear to be working. Body armor has been credited with saving the lives of more than 2,500 law enforcement officers since the 1970s.
Government and industry sources say that success is the result of technological improvements that have made vests lighter and stronger. The latest models, which can cost from $500 to $1,000, feature fibers such as DuPont's Kevlar that are stronger than steel and can stop most bullets.
No one can say for sure whether a vest might have saved the life of veteran Morgan County Sheriff's Deputy Dan Starnes, who was shot four times in the chest during a July 14, 2001, shootout with a burglary suspect. Starnes died a month later.
Garner was among the deputies called to the scene of that shooting. While Garner refuses to second-guess Starnes' decision not to wear a vest, it is clear that the event affected his thinking.
Indianapolis Patrolman Jason Thalheimer is often cited as an example of how vests can save lives. On Aug. 19, 2000, he jumped out of a patrol car to confront a suspect. Seconds later, he took a bullet in the center of his chest. The vest stopped it.
Body armor also can prevent officers from other types of injury. A vest saved a Marion County deputy from serious injury in a motorcycle spill during last year's Indianapolis 500 Parade.
"He was at Washington and Illinois streets on his motorcycle. He hit a curb and it launched him off the cycle," said Bart McAtee, a deputy chief for Marion County Sheriff Frank Anderson.
"He slid down the street and the pavement tore up his shirt. He would have been seriously injured, but he was wearing a vest," said McAtee.
Younger officers are more likely to wear body armor, McAtee said. That's often because they've become used to wearing vests during training, according to the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center.
"We have 245 uniformed officers and about 200 of them wear them, even though it is optional for all officers except those assigned to the K-9 and SWAT teams," McAtee said.
Another reason for the vests is that patrol deputies are seeing more and more suspects carrying heavy weapons, said Garner.
"We have a bunch of AK-47s (confiscated from suspects) in the property room," Garner said. "And those (bad) guys can really reach out and touch you with them," Garner said.
Hendricks County's Quearry, a retired federal agent of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, wore a vest for years.
"You never know when a little old grandma could panic and do something stupid, and kaboom something might happen," he said.
Call Star reporter R. Joseph Gelarden at 1-317-444-6885.
_____________________________________________
Fast facts on vests
* An estimated 150 police officers' lives are saved each year because they were wearing body armor.
* Of the 147 police officers nationally that died in the line of duty last year, 55 were shot to death. The most recent in Hendricks or Morgan counties was Daniel Starnes of the Morgan County Sheriff's Department in 2001.
* The FBI estimates that 42 percent of police officers shot and killed since 1980 would have been saved if they had been wearing body armor.
* The risk of dying from a gunshot is 14 times higher when an officer is not wearing body armor, according to the FBI.
* No police officers from 1985 to 1994 died from a gunshot that penetrated a vest, according to an FBI study.
