Why New York Detectives Don’t Always Wear Bulletproof Vests

[psalms144.1]

And, not like you need it, but another +1. I'm in soft clothes daily. I have my vest and plates in an external carrier that I carry with me back and forth from the office to my government car so I have it with me all day.

There's no point in wearing armor all day under your clothes when you're sitting in an office doing contract file reviews, or headed to do a pre-planned interview with a cooperative witness.

If I'm going out to do knock and talks in certain areas, I'll armor up under my shirt, but I'll also usually have another agent along to back me up.

I'm guessing this thread is motivated by the recent blue-on-blue shooting in NYC that resulted in a dead MOS. If something like that happened to me on the way home today (robbery at the gas station while I'm fueling the G-sled or some such), you better believe my FIRST concern after "taking care of business" with the BG is going to be NOT getting shot by responding uniformed LE (with whom I have no means of easy communication)...

[J. J. Magnum]

When I worked crime scenes we never wore a vest; it was too confining for crawling around taking pictures collecting evidence, dusting for prints, etc. Don't think that crime scene work is without danger. I rolled on an vehicle recovery in which one person was found dead inside (result of an officer involved shooting where the driver of the vehicle tried to run over the officer - passenger was killed). The car was too wet to process beyond photos due to the fog at 3 am so I was standing by with the Deputies while the tow truck driver was getting it ready to put it on the roll back. A string of several shots rang out and the distinct sound of projectiles cracking overhead was heard. Lots of officers (including me) took cover. I was probably the only one without a vest; those were the breaks and I accepted the danger.

When I went back on the street as a patrol supervisor I was required to wear a vest. I never liked it; in fact it was a great relief to finally get rid of it when I retired in 04.

The only time I ever saw Detectives wear vests was during warrant service.

[Yung]

One of our local detectives was killed during warrant service and neither him or his partner had their soft armor on.
He was a fixture on our state shooting forum and is missed by a lot of people.

https://www.odmp.org/officer/21947-d...n-thomas-hobbs
http://ktar.com/story/83557/police-i...-line-of-duty/

[lwt16]

Very much the norm here.

We have line level patrol officers who have signed waivers and answer hot calls daily with just their gun belts and a tee shirt underneath their polyester uniform shirt.

Boggles my mind.

I wear mine religiously in uniform. I hate the thing but still don it after close to 23 years on the job.

Regards.

[BehindBlueI's]

Very much the norm here.

We have line level patrol officers who have signed waivers and answer hot calls daily with just their gun belts and a tee shirt underneath their polyester uniform shirt.

Boggles my mind.

I wear mine religiously in uniform. I hate the thing but still don it after close to 23 years on the job.

Regards.

What's the waiver consist of?

I never fail to wear mine in uniform, and wouldn't "waive" it even if I could.

[psalms144.1]

I'm shocked that a waiver is even a thought! My worst "you gotta wear it" armor story was when I was working for AFOSI. We were on a protective detail in Islamabad, Pakistan, in August. Attire was 5.11s, polos, and 5.11 vests. The General we were protecting decided he wanted to play a round of golf - 18 holes, between 1330-who knows what time he stopped. If it had been pouring monsoon rain the whole time, I couldn't have looked any wetter...

[lwt16]

What's the waiver consist of?

I never fail to wear mine in uniform, and wouldn't "waive" it even if I could.

Don't know. I'll try to find out if you'd like.

[HCM]

Very much the norm here.

We have line level patrol officers who have signed waivers and answer hot calls daily with just their gun belts and a tee shirt underneath their polyester uniform shirt.

Boggles my mind.

I wear mine religiously in uniform. I hate the thing but still don it after close to 23 years on the job.

Regards.

Believe it or not, there are still departments which do not issue or mandate body armor for patrol. I work with an officer from a local school district police department whose department just now, in 2019, got a grant to purchase body armor for their officers and do not require armor to be worn working uniformed patrol. It's not clear if that will change now that armor has been provided. To clarify, these officers normally "rove" from campus to campus in uniform and marked units which look like our city PD's units.

[lwt16]

Yeah, I know there are several here in Alabama that don't provide armor.

That's a failure of admin.

Being provided one free of charge and refusing to wear it.....that's an individual fail.

Because if they get shot down, I'm still going to rush out to them to put the bad guy down, cover them, or treat their wounds. Which puts me in harm's way for something that they may have been able to soak up and drive on (pistol calibers, of course).

BAck in the late 90s, I saw a coworker soak up a friendly fire round that would have killed him had it not been for his vest.

[TGS]

I don't know anyone who wears a full vest in plainclothes.

When I worked investigations, most of us at my office would wear armor when out in the field for interviews, but we were wearing a low-profile option issued to us (as seen below). I don't think anyone, including myself, would wear a full vest. It just doesn't work.