Federal funding to help local police get bulletproof vests

Tuesday, April 20, 1999 | 12:05 p.m.

The Bulletproof Vest Partnership Program, a $25-million project to help provide body armor and bulletproof vests to police across the country, is under way.

"This program will help save lives of those who put their lives on the line for the public's safety," Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Saturday. "Criminals should not be better protected than those who seek to get them off the streets."

Reid said the program is a result of a joint effort by himself, Nevada Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa and senators from a number of other states.

The program provides a 50-percent matching grant to purchase vests.

Reid said under a small-state provision, Nevada will receive at least $125,000 per year, enough with matching funds to buy about 500 vests for Nevada law enforcement officers.

The U.S. Department of Justice estimates about 150,000 state and local officers across the nation are not issued body armor, usually because of the cost.

According to the FBI, more than 30 percent of the 1,182 officers killed by firearms in the line of duty since 1980 could have been saved if they had been wearing body armor and the risk of fatality to officers not wearing body armor is 14 times higher than officers wearing the protection.