Preacherman
Member
From the Times-Picayune, New Orleans (http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/metro/index.ssf?/base/news-0/105764923388880.xml):
Police cruisers may go high-tech
Windows stop bullets but let officers shoot
Tuesday July 08, 2003
By Frank Donze
Staff writer
It sounds like something out of a science fiction movie: a material that can stop a bullet fired at a police car dead in its tracks while allowing officers inside the vehicle to shoot back.
After months of research, New Orleans City Council staffers have located a company that manufactures such a product. And if the costs aren't prohibitive, City Hall hopes to begin armoring police cruisers with it soon.
"The bottom line is the technology is available," said Councilman Eddie Sapir, who has spearheaded an effort to protect officers from criminals who have gained easy access to high-powered weaponry.
Sapir launched the discussion in August after the killing of officer Christopher Russell, who was gunned down seconds after he and his partner drove up to a St. Roch neighborhood bar that had just been robbed.
One of four fugitives leaving the bar fired several shots through the cruiser's passenger-side window. Russell, who was wearing a bulletproof vest, was shot in the head as he sat behind the wheel. Four people were arrested, but have not been tried in the case.
After Russell's funeral, Sapir said, he and his colleagues made a commitment to prevent similar tragedies.
"When we lost Officer Russell, we all thought that the least we should do is explore the opportunity . . . to see if that could never, ever happen again," Sapir said.
In the past year, a task force of council staffers and New Orleans Police Department personnel contacted more than 100 companies before they found one equipped to deliver a bullet-resistant substance that was distortion-free, durable, reusable and reasonably priced.
Making the grade was Labock Technologies Inc. of Weston, Fla., which recently dispatched company representatives to New Orleans to demonstrate its invention for local officials.
In addition to the "one-way glass" that blocks bullets from entering a vehicle from the outside, task force members were wowed by "an unexpected phenomenal feature" that allows officers "to return fire from the inside," according to a report submitted to the council last week.
"The return fire can move through the glass from the officer, and the glass will reseal itself," said Wilson Howard, the council's assistant research director who headed up the task force study.
Howard said Laboc's package offers the additional benefit of a bulletproof door panel that can be detached and used by police officers as a shield in the event of an ambush.
An NOPD study of the issue of bulletproofing done about 10 years ago found that the ability to easily install and remove the protective materials is a critical issue. Among the reasons cited were:
-- The relatively short life of the average police car, estimated at about 18 months. If the equipment was not transferable to new vehicles, the earlier study found that replacement costs could become a serious problem.
-- The expense of removing the glass before out-of-service cruisers are resold on the open market. Police officials have said they do not want drug dealers or other criminals to gain the advantage of the added protection.
Based on preliminary estimates, council staffers said it would cost about $13,000 per vehicle to equip the front windshield, the two front doors and the inside glass partition.
The task force has recommended that the city initially equip at least 125 police cruisers, a step that would carry a $1.62 million price tag.
This past Thursday, Sapir asked Police Department officials to return with proposals on how to pay for the project, including the availability of federal or state grants.
While no commitment has been made to purchase Labock Technologies' product, the task force report said that NOPD officials have strongly recommended it.
The lightweight, reusable one-way protection system is "the feature that sets Labock apart from the rest and it is that feature that offers the highest level of safety to our officers," the report said. "Thus far, no other company has been identified."
Councilwoman Cynthia Willard-Lewis told task force members that she and her colleagues are prepared to make the high-tech protection a top priority this fall as they consider the city's 2004 operating budget.
"You have a committed council that wants to have our police department fully empowered with all that it needs" Willard-Lewis said, "so that we can win this war."
Police cruisers may go high-tech
Windows stop bullets but let officers shoot
Tuesday July 08, 2003
By Frank Donze
Staff writer
It sounds like something out of a science fiction movie: a material that can stop a bullet fired at a police car dead in its tracks while allowing officers inside the vehicle to shoot back.
After months of research, New Orleans City Council staffers have located a company that manufactures such a product. And if the costs aren't prohibitive, City Hall hopes to begin armoring police cruisers with it soon.
"The bottom line is the technology is available," said Councilman Eddie Sapir, who has spearheaded an effort to protect officers from criminals who have gained easy access to high-powered weaponry.
Sapir launched the discussion in August after the killing of officer Christopher Russell, who was gunned down seconds after he and his partner drove up to a St. Roch neighborhood bar that had just been robbed.
One of four fugitives leaving the bar fired several shots through the cruiser's passenger-side window. Russell, who was wearing a bulletproof vest, was shot in the head as he sat behind the wheel. Four people were arrested, but have not been tried in the case.
After Russell's funeral, Sapir said, he and his colleagues made a commitment to prevent similar tragedies.
"When we lost Officer Russell, we all thought that the least we should do is explore the opportunity . . . to see if that could never, ever happen again," Sapir said.
In the past year, a task force of council staffers and New Orleans Police Department personnel contacted more than 100 companies before they found one equipped to deliver a bullet-resistant substance that was distortion-free, durable, reusable and reasonably priced.
Making the grade was Labock Technologies Inc. of Weston, Fla., which recently dispatched company representatives to New Orleans to demonstrate its invention for local officials.
In addition to the "one-way glass" that blocks bullets from entering a vehicle from the outside, task force members were wowed by "an unexpected phenomenal feature" that allows officers "to return fire from the inside," according to a report submitted to the council last week.
"The return fire can move through the glass from the officer, and the glass will reseal itself," said Wilson Howard, the council's assistant research director who headed up the task force study.
Howard said Laboc's package offers the additional benefit of a bulletproof door panel that can be detached and used by police officers as a shield in the event of an ambush.
An NOPD study of the issue of bulletproofing done about 10 years ago found that the ability to easily install and remove the protective materials is a critical issue. Among the reasons cited were:
-- The relatively short life of the average police car, estimated at about 18 months. If the equipment was not transferable to new vehicles, the earlier study found that replacement costs could become a serious problem.
-- The expense of removing the glass before out-of-service cruisers are resold on the open market. Police officials have said they do not want drug dealers or other criminals to gain the advantage of the added protection.
Based on preliminary estimates, council staffers said it would cost about $13,000 per vehicle to equip the front windshield, the two front doors and the inside glass partition.
The task force has recommended that the city initially equip at least 125 police cruisers, a step that would carry a $1.62 million price tag.
This past Thursday, Sapir asked Police Department officials to return with proposals on how to pay for the project, including the availability of federal or state grants.
While no commitment has been made to purchase Labock Technologies' product, the task force report said that NOPD officials have strongly recommended it.
The lightweight, reusable one-way protection system is "the feature that sets Labock apart from the rest and it is that feature that offers the highest level of safety to our officers," the report said. "Thus far, no other company has been identified."
Councilwoman Cynthia Willard-Lewis told task force members that she and her colleagues are prepared to make the high-tech protection a top priority this fall as they consider the city's 2004 operating budget.
"You have a committed council that wants to have our police department fully empowered with all that it needs" Willard-Lewis said, "so that we can win this war."
