Perry to upgrade police body armor

In the wake of recent attacks on police, the Perry Police Department is upgrading its body armor.

Perry Police Chief Steve Lynn said he is looking to acquire armor that would stop rifle bullets. Tuesday, the City Council approved $26,000 for the upgrade. That would buy armor and a Kevlar helmet for each of the city’s 40 officers.

Lynn said the rifle armor is a ceramic plate that would go over the officers’ existing fabric armor, which can stop only handgun bullets.

Officers wear the fabric armor on routine patrol, but Lynn said the ceramic armor is too heavy to be worn regularly.

“It will be available for them to put on when they know they need it,” Lynn said.

He noted that the three officers killed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Sunday were responding to a call of a man with a rifle. He said officers responding to such a call could take about 30 seconds to stop and put on the ceramic armor.

“When you get there you would have an extra level of protection,” he said.

Lynn said he was prompted to ask the council for the rifle protection after some officers said they thought they needed it, and a couple even bought the ceramic plates themselves. Lynn said it bothered him that officers were spending their own money on armor, so he asked the council to fund the purchase for all officers.

Approximately $14,000 of the cost will come from the city’s general fund, and the remainder will come from the police department’s confiscated funds.

The Houston County Sheriff’s Department is considering a similar upgrade for all deputies. Capt. Mike Stokes, who oversees the SWAT team, said the SWAT deputies have ceramic armor, but most of the patrol deputies do not. He said a few deputies have bought their own ceramic armor.

But he said the department is currently looking at the cost of buying ceramic armor for every deputy. That cost has not been determined.

He said it’s not just the recent incidents that is driving the desire to protect deputies against rifle bullets. He said there have been other instances that haven’t made national news.

“It’s not uncommon to see rifles,” he said. “The problem is they have not been used in the past against law enforcement like we are seeing them used today.”

Bibb County Sheriff David Davis said, for security reason,s he did want to discuss specifics of what kind of armor protection is used by his deputies, but he said, “We have the best that is available to protect us against pretty much any threat.”

Jennifer Parson, spokeswoman for the Warner Robins Police Department, declined via email to discuss anything about the armor the department uses or may be considering for purchase, citing security reasons.

Coincidentally at the Perry City Council meeting, the council honored Police Lt. Bruce Ham for 30 years of service. About a dozen officers were in attendance for the occasion, and as they were about to leave, Mayor Jimmy Faircloth asked them to stay for a moment because he had something he wanted to say.

He talked about the recent attacks on officers and called it “unacceptable.”

“I want to personally thank every officer in this room and those that are not for the commitment, the dedication and the nerve that it takes to do your job in today’s world,” he said. “I don’t want you to ever go to sleep at night without knowing that you have our support.”

This story was originally published July 20, 2016 at 4:39 PM with the headline "Perry to upgrade police body armor."