By Michael Young
The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Defensive Systems Unit (DSU) is a unique, operationally focused logistics unit responsible for the life-cycle management — from procurement assistance to final disposition — of all FBI ammunition, ballistic protective equipment and weapons systems to ensure the operational success and ultimate survivability of FBI personnel. This includes asset purchases, logistics management and operational support to all entities within the FBI, as well as law enforcement partners at the local, state, tribal and federal levels.
The DSU is unveiling a new program to assist the FBI’s local and state law enforcement partners. This endeavor is formally titled the Legacy Body Armor program and is specifically tailored to address financial burdens placed upon certain departments that do not possess the requisite funding to purchase appropriate body armor for sworn officers.
As it stands, law enforcement officers who serve with agencies unable to provide protective equipment free of charge are left with two choices: purchase their own body armor or go without. When taking into consideration the former option faced by these officers, it is not hard for someone to conclude that most, if not all, privately purchased equipment will necessarily be of significantly lower quality. The latter is patently unacceptable.
According to a study conducted by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), 41% of the law enforcement agencies they surveyed do not, by policy, require sworn personnel to wear body armor. [1] To help put this into perspective, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), which also happens to be part of USDOJ, their November 2022 bulletin listed approximately 14,700 law enforcement agencies around the country with roughly 708,000 sworn personnel employed. [2] The previously mentioned, combined BJA – PERF study further advised that 17.7% of departments do not provide body armor to their officers, forcing them to purchase their own. [3]
The Legacy Body Armor program is specifically tailored to help alleviate the financial burden on underfunded state and local law enforcement departments unable to purchase appropriate body armor.
If the 17.7% figure was applied to the BJS November 2022 bulletin numbers, it means there are over 2,600 agencies not supplying body armor to employees. Applying that same percentage to the total number of officers working full-time, there could potentially be over 125,000 officers actively serving their communities with personally purchased ballistic protective armor.
When considered alongside the 41% of agencies that do not even require sworn personnel to wear body armor, it is glaringly apparent that far too many officers are either completely unprotected by ballistic protective armor or, more likely, wear the cheapest equipment their salaries allow for.
The FBI, with DSU spearheading this endeavor, intends to mitigate these numbers so those unfortunate officers do not, in fact, become a statistic themselves.
The example
As an agency, the FBI strives to provide the very best equipment to its personnel, and body armor is no exception. To ensure manufacturer guidelines are followed, DSU issues, maintains and, ultimately, recovers all body armor as part of ongoing asset management responsibilities. This includes rigid compliance to a self-imposed, soft armor replacement cycle that effectively mirrors the manufacturer’s warranty period.
The solution
Over the years, DSU has collected a substantial quantity of used body armor kits that, up until 2023, were normally destroyed in accordance with existing policies. This has taken place despite the James Guelff and Chris McCurley Body Armor Act of 2002, which states that federal agencies may donate body armor directly to state and/or local law enforcement agencies if (a) the armor is in serviceable condition, (b) is surplus property, and (c) meets or exceeds the ballistic resistant requirements of the National Institute of Justice. [4] In essence, this specific federal statute legally authorizes DSU to repurpose its vast surplus of ballistic protective armor via donation to identified state and local law enforcement agencies that cannot, otherwise, provide it to sworn personnel.
As previously mentioned, each piece of body armor is generally manufactured with a warranty, thus letting the owner know when a replacement is in order. Research is now showing that, despite the warranty expiration, the body armor itself is actually much more resilient than initially led to believe. This means that the warranty period is not necessarily indicative of the armor’s useful lifespan. There are, however, challenges associated with this conclusion.
For instance, there is no definitive data regarding just how long a panel of soft armor will last before it needs replacement. Complicating this fact is the sheer number of body armor manufacturers worldwide. Additionally, the actual differences in manufacturing employed by each further complicate any meaningful determination for replacement. With several models often available for purchase, each manufacturer might use different fabrics and varying numbers of layers. This means any attempt to estimate the useful life of body armor by generalizing amongst such potentially disparate variables would be untenable.
Soft armor research and testing
Between 2019 and 2020, the FBI’s Ballistic Research Facility (BRF) conducted extensive testing on over 300 legacy body armor surplus panels utilizing over 600 individual test shots with the highest threat level projectiles (9mm Luger, 124 gr. NATO profile ball projectile with an impact velocity of 1,375 to 1,400 FPS). The sample panels spanned a variety of serviceable conditions, ranging from brand new (sealed in original packaging) to completely unknown. No failures occurred on tested panels manufactured after 2002. It should be noted that the performance results were unique only to the specific makes and models tested.
This is NOT asserting that ALL brands and ALL models manufactured after 2002 were tested, nor is it known if any untested panels would have passed. It is simply and singularly stating that those specific samples of soft armor panels stored within the FBI’s inventory, during the 2019-2020 timeframe, were tested by BRFU and did not fail.
Hard armor research and testing
Ceramic
BRF approved the integrity of legacy ceramic plates, both National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Level III and NIJ Level IV, firing the NIJ threat level projectiles (.308 Winchester 150 grain FMJ at 2,750 + 50 fps and .30-06 grain M2 AP at 2,850 + 50 fps, respectively). These plates contain ceramic-based ballistic resistant materials encased with a polyurea or nylon covering. Ceramics would not be expected to degrade or to be negatively impacted by moisture. Ceramic plates could be damaged through various types of mishandling or abuse, e.g., repeated drops or significant blunt impacts. Normal law enforcement usage should not impact the performance of ceramic plates. It is imperative to look for any signs of physical damage before donning any ballistic-resistant item.
Steel
The steel hard armor protective plates within DSU’s inventory that are available for donation are certified NIJ level III. The ballistic resistance of steel plates does not degrade over time. Steel plates weigh more than the previously mentioned ceramic plates, which may be seen as a negative characteristic for some users, particularly those involved in tactical operations who may wear the plates for extended periods.
Implementation operations
Current FBI Director Christopher Wray has approved of and supports the issuance of body armor to our smaller, underfunded state and local law enforcement partners who do not possess the requisite budgetary finances to purchase sufficient body armor for their sworn personnel. In a concentrated effort to positively impact those agencies, DSU has initiated the body armor donation process to qualifying departments throughout the country. This program is successful because of each FBI field office’s assistance in identifying potential recipient agencies in their respective areas of operation to expeditiously returning soft armor and ballistic plates as new armor is assigned.
Each of the FBI’s 56 field offices is in direct communication with DSU, through their Principal Firearms Instructor (PFI) cadre, to identify five qualifying departments within their area of operations (AOR). Those five departments will then be ranked in order of demonstrated need by each division.
It is highly recommended the Division PFI make use of both Supervisory Senior Resident Agents and Senior Resident Agents to identify qualifying departments. Each division should make every effort to ensure the departments need these resources and cannot afford to fund armor purchases for their personnel. FBI field offices will serve as DSU’s primary point of contact for any external law enforcement agencies that inquire about the program. Any contact from those agencies directly to DSU will be referred back to their respective field offices.
Once identified, each field office will be responsible for submitting the proper sizing measurements from the previously identified law enforcement partners to DSU. Each field office must notify DSU, prior to fulfillment, of any subsequent changes to the initial order, such as when law enforcement personnel leave the department, and/or when new personnel are officially hired after the original request was submitted. DSU will fulfill the orders as they are received, for one state, local, or tribal agency per field office to ensure a fair distribution of finite resources across the nation. It is unlikely that DSU will be able to sustain follow-on armor donations for those qualifying agencies identified past the fulfillment of the initial order.
DSU will ship the body armor to each receiving field office and document the delivery/transfer of donated body armor according to current FBI policy practices. Once those initial orders are fulfilled, DSU will repeat the fulfillment process, adhering to the fair distribution standard previously mentioned, for as long as the supply of surplus armor lasts. Ceramic and steel plates will be issued, when in stock, with availability limited by what quantities the field returns to DSU over time. Any currently issued plates will likely remain out in the field with agents for their entire career, which is completely different than any currently issued soft armor. As such, DSU does not foresee a continuous supply of ceramic and steel plates available for donation in the future.
DSU developed an internal sizing procedure to mitigate potential fitment issues with the Legacy soft body armor kits that were originally customized to fit the intended recipient. This was achieved by creating life-size templates of generally accepted size parameters for extra-small, small, medium, large, extra-large and extra extra-large. Kits are also available for unique size requirements and are kept on standby.
BETA testing
By mid-2023, DSU initiated a BETA test that began with just three states. Within those states, 25 different law enforcement agencies, to include various task forces, police departments, sheriff’s offices, college police, and even SWAT teams received soft armor, plate carriers and/or hard armor plate sets. Each one of those agencies noted the fit of the equipment, which was the original reason for the BETA test itself, was excellent.
As of October 1, 2023, the approximate cost of the donated equipment to those initial agencies totaled just under $700K. Additional agencies are identified and assisted through this program daily by DSU personnel working in close conjunction with field office counterparts.
Summary
The goal for the Legacy Body Armor Program is twofold.
First and foremost, it will ensure more law enforcement officers have access to the best protective equipment, thus providing a much better chance of survival against armed subjects.
Second, this program allows FBI field office personnel to actively engage in vital liaison activities with their state and local counterparts in hopes of either initiating and/or improving professional partnerships nationwide.
In addition, it removes any additional financial costs associated with the post-lifecycle destruction of operational body armor, a long-time DSU responsibility which, ultimately, allows the FBI to avoid additional costs while also successfully repurposing items that can be effectively utilized elsewhere.
References
1. PERF Project Staff: Bruce Taylor, Ph.D., Research Director | Bruce Kubu, Survey Director | Kristin Kappleman, Research Associate | Hemali Gunaratne, Boston Police Department | Nathan Ballard, Research Assistant | Mary Martinez, Research Assistance, The BJA/PERF Body Armor National Survey: Protecting the Nation’s Law Enforcement Officers; Bureau of Just Assistance and Police Executive Research Forum; August 9, 2009, PERF_BodyArmor.pdf (ojp.gov).
2. [11] U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Statistics November 2022, NCJ 305187, Bulletin Local Police Departments Personnel, 2020 Sean E. Goodison, PhD, BJS Statistician, Local Police Departments Personnel, 2020 (ojp.gov).
3. PERF Project Staff: Bruce Taylor, Ph.D., Research Director | Bruce Kubu, Survey Director | Kristin Kappleman, Research Associate | Hemali Gunaratne, Boston Police Department | Nathan Ballard, Research Assistant | Mary Martinez, Research Assistance, The BJA/PERF Body Armor National Survey: Protecting the Nation’s Law Enforcement Officers; Bureau of Justice Assistance and Police Executive Research Forum; August 9, 2009, PERF_BodyArmor.pdf (ojp.gov).
4. S.166 - James Guelff and Chris McCurley Body Armor Act of 2001 BECAME LAW ON 11/02/2002, Text - S.166 - 107th Congress (2001-2002): James Guelff and Chris McCurley Body Armor Act of 2001 | Congress.gov | Library of Congress.
About the author
Michael Young is the Assistant Section Chief within the FBI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate. He has been with the FBI for 20 years and spent five years with the Baltimore City Police Department before joining the FBI.