NYPD rolls out new bulletproof vests in wake of detective’s friendly fire death
By Natalie Musumeci
New York Post
December 20, 2019
The friendly fire death of Det. Brian Simonsen – who was not wearing a bulletproof vest at the time he was killed – has prompted the NYPD to roll out new slimmer, easier to wear vests to department detectives, police officials announced Friday.
Thanks to a $550,000 donation made by the New York City Police Foundation and the Detectives’ Endowment Association, 550 detectives will be given the new custom-made vests as part of a pilot program — and the very first one was handed out by Simonsen’s widow, Leanne, to Simonsen’s partner at Queens’ 102nd Precinct Friday morning.
Leanne then handed out the new vests to 15 other squad detectives at the precinct, said Police Commissioner Dermot Shea who was also there for the doling out of the vests.
“And then we threatened them [the detectives]: “We better not see you at a crime scene without one of these beautiful vests on,” Shea quipped.
Shea said that the thought process for the new vests was started the day after Simonsen was killed by police gunfire during a chaotic robbery in Queens on Feb. 12.
“One thing that will never happen is that Brian will never be forgotten,” said Shea.
The police commissioner noted that the new, more comfortable vests are “easier and quicker… to put on for detectives wearing shirts and ties” and that they are “easier than our standard-issued police vests, which are primarily designed to go underneath a uniform shirt and tie.”
The “biggest difference” between the old, bulkier department bulletproof vests and the new ones is the “accessibility,” said Shea, who added that it was becoming a pattern for suit-and-tie wearing detectives to not wear their bulletproof vests at crime scenes.
“The reality was it wasn’t occurring. This is something we had to address,” said Shea who said he believes that more detectives will wear the new vests thanks to the new design.
Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison said that after Simonsen’s tragic death “the conversation arose – why? Why are our investigators wearing their raid jackets, but not wearing bullet-resistant vests?”
“We know why. The vests are bulky. They don’t fit under their suit jackets,” he said.
Harrison noted that “with this knowledge” the NYPD “decided to create a slim, lightweight vest that replicates the look of an NYPD raid jacket.”
The rest of the 550 vests will be distributed among the roughly 17,000 precinct detectives citywide, Harrison said.
“With additional funding every investigator in the NYPD will get their own vests,” Harrison said.
4 comments:
One city in Texas has a detective division and they all wear uniforms. They all wear vests and they have found the uniforms did not hamper their ability to follow up on crimes.
I admit that surprises me.
I wonder how effective the new and improved product is.
When you think about it investigators identify themselves before taking a statement or examining a crime scene. More uniforms on the street does make sense. I worked plain clothes for many years and I wore a vest under a coat and tie as did most of my partners. Of course I would have missed the clothing allowance.
Hard to do low profile surveillance in the bag.
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