A $7.3 million plan will see New York Police Department (NYPD) officers receive new bulletproof vests starting in May 2015.
The $7.3 million investment will upgrade 13,000 bulletproof vests.
The pressure to push the measure forward comes after two NYPD officers were shot and killed in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn back in December, Newsday reported.
Officers with the oldest vests — about 6,400 with vests that are 10 to 15 years old — will get new vests first, with body measurements beginning in March, and the new vest distribution starting in May.
… Vests older than five years are out of warranty though they are tested every year to make sure they work. The new ones are lighter and feature a ceramic plate that protects against a knife or certain kinds of long guns that the material in the rest of the vest does not guard against, [Police Commissioner William] Bratton said.
“Time and time again, I have seen bulletproof vests offer my officers lifesaving protection from potentially fatal gunfire,”Bratton said in a statement. “In the line of duty, our officers brave perilous circumstances to keep our neighborhoods safe—and we owe them the highest quality of protection as they perform this valiant task.”
