By: Lydia Crawley
The Parsons Advocate
The City of Parsons Police Department will be getting new Kevlar body armor vests following a vote by the City of Parsons Council August 6th. The unanimous vote authorized the purchase of three soft armor point blank vest for the department to replace old and outdated equipment currently in use by the department. City of Parsons Police Chief Kevin Keplinger spoke to the Council on the matter at the meeting.
According to Keplinger, the National Institute of Justice recommendation is that body armor be replaced every five years, but the City of Parsons has equipment that was purchased in 2018 and 2010, according to Keplinger. “The National Institute of Justice recommends that body armor be updated every five years or replaced every five years,” Keplinger said.
According to Keplinger, the body armor for the City was purchased in 2018. “Now, I’m not naive enough to think that Kevlar is going to magically drop its protection level, we’ve got a couple of issues we’re facing, number one is that the armor that we currently wear was purchased is 2018 so it is outside of the five year replacement,” Keplinger said.
Keplinger said that the vest portions were purchased prior to the plates and are showing signs of advanced wear. “But the bigger problem is that you look at the body armor kind of as a component or as a set of components. The outer carriers that we have were purchased well before 2018. Matter of fact, I was thinking they may have been purchased in 2010,” Keplinger said.
Keplinger said that he had issue with the style of armor that the current vests utilized. The current armor used hard plates that provide limited protection. “Another issue I have is whoever bought the armor in 2018, bought hard plates. I don’t necessarily have an issue with hard plates. They provide protection for the immediate front, and that’s it and the immediate back. There’s no protection to the sides . They’re hard plates,” Keplinger said.
Keplinger said he wants to upgrade to soft plate armor that provides a more complete protection for him and his staff. “3A Soft Armor provides protection higher, it provides protection to the sides, an updated carrier and this is the armor and carrier that I would like to go to,” Keplinger said.
The quote of $3,346.42 from Witmer Public Safety Group, Inc. includes the vests, plates and a concealment vest, according to Keplinger. “Along with this it will provide an outer vest, to be worn like we normally wear, it will also provide a vest that you can take the soft panels out of, place them on, place a shirt on top of, if you need to wear concealed,” Keplinger said.
Keplinger said the purchased was anticipated and was budgeted for. According to Keplinger the request was needed due to the amount of the expense exceeded $500. The purchased was approved by the council by unanimous vote. “This is a purchase that I had anticipated,” Keplinger said. “I just need permission to go forward.”
