Safe Life has a ballistics range in their new Henderson warehouse that measures the impact an officer’s body would face if shot with different rounds while wearing different vests. “The speed at which the round is moving, that makes it much more difficult to stop and more devastating when it does hit you.” “With rifles, what makes them much more difficult to stop is velocity,” Groat said.

A FRAS vest starts at $1,600 on the company’s website. Safe Life Defense vests Groat suggests for patrol officers, the Type IIIA, start at $449. “If the armor isn’t something practical, they’re not going to wear it.” “The really, most important thing is for an officer to have the armor for their daily use,” Groat said. FRAS vests protect the entire torso from rifles with a flexible material, Groat said. “The IIA really doesn’t cover a lot of the threats that an officer may come across nowadays,” Groat said.įRAS vests are heavier, more than double the weight of a II or IIIA vest, and more expensive. The Las Vegas-based manufacturer sells IIIA, and a company-specific vest called FRAS, or flexible rifle armor system, that protects against rifle rounds. Safe Life Defense owner Nick Groat said an officer comes into the store on South Valley View Boulevard daily to purchase a vest. The money goes toward each officer choosing his own vest, handgun and flashlight as well as getting their uniforms dry-cleaned. Las Vegas Police Protective Association President Steve Grammas said officers receive an annual allotment of $2,100. A Type IIA vest protects against smaller caliber rounds, while a Type II would add protection against higher-powered handgun ammunition. Parra said the biggest threat officers face is usually a smaller-caliber weapon.

Other types of armor don’t fall under the classified categories. Type IV, on the other hand, is hard armor or plate inserts that protect against armor piercing rounds from rifles. Type IIA protects against rounds from handguns, like 9 mm and. The type IIA vest is one of five progressive levels of protection, as described by the Department of Justice’s National Institute of Justice. Thai, who was hired in 1999, was wearing a vest, but Parra would not provide specifics on Thai’s body armor, saying it’s part of the investigation into his shooting death. And the department’s policy stated that officers must wear, at a minimum, the kind of vest that would stop handgun rounds, or what is classified under federal standards as a Type IIA vest. While all Metro officers are encouraged to wear ballistic vests, only the officers hired after July 1, 2008, are required to wear them. Parra said Metro is undergoing a routine review of policies and tactics that led to the shooting.Ī vest exists that could have saved Thai’s life, but it’s up to officers to choose whether they will endure the extra weight of wearing one. “I’m not going to say that it’s going to.” “The outcome of the investigation could result in that,” Metro officer Misael Parra said. Now, Las Vegas police say that anything that might prevent similar deaths in the future - including updating the department’s body armor policy - is on the table. 13, a bullet from an AK-47 pistol pierced his bulletproof vest, killing him, Assistant Sheriff Andrew Walsh said in a briefing. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye Las Vegas Review-Journal) Metropolitan Police Department officer Truong Thai was shot on Oct. Safe Life Defense makes Body Armor, Tactical Belts, and other protection products for Police, EMS, Security Officers, and civilians. A ballistic impact lab operator, left, and operation manager at Safe Life Defense, who declined to give their names, examine a hole caused by an M855 5.56mm bullet on the Safe Life Defense's Flexible Rifle Armor System (FRAS) bulletproof vest after a test shot, on Friday, Oct.

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