The FBI’s Legacy Body Armor Program
By Michael Young, M.A.
History showcases multiple examples of body armor utilized illegally by criminals who engage police in sustained gun battles. One such instance is the 1997 North Hollywood, California, bank robbery, considered one of the worst gunfights in law enforcement history.
On February 29, the subjects entered the bank and announced their intention to rob it as they fired weapons indiscriminately inside the building. Each wore full-size body armor vests. One also had ballistic material sewn into clothes carriers that covered his arms and legs, as well as an armor plate capable of withstanding a 12-gauge shotgun slug round, armor piercing pistol rounds, and .300-caliber rounds.1
The subjects employed various lethal weaponry that day, to include a 7.62-caliber assault rifle, considered an AK-47 variant with drum magazines. They also possessed a .223-caliber assault rifle with twin-drum, 100-round magazine capacity, as well as an assault rifle chambered in .308-caliber. The smallest weapon used against law enforcement that day was a pistol chambered in 9 mm with 15-round capacity magazines.2
This gun battle lasted 44 minutes, and had either of the subjects survived, they would have been charged with the attempted murder of 64 police officers and 18 civilian bystanders. One subject’s body was recovered with over 400 rounds of ammunition in magazines and drums. The other individual had 240 rounds in magazines and drums on his body.3
Assistant Section Chief Young serves in the FBI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate.
Ballistic protective armor is normally intended to help protect law enforcement officers from severe injury or death while on duty. It is unthinkable for today’s police personnel to go into a situation like the North Hollywood shootout without body armor or with some type of low-quality body armor kit. Fortunately, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) purchased quality ballistic protective armor for its officers. However, far too many agencies around the country lack the necessary funding for this lifesaving equipment.
As it stands, officers who serve with departments unable to provide protective equipment then must choose to either buy their own or go without entirely. When considering the former option, it seems that most, if not all, privately purchased equipment will necessarily be of significantly lower quality. The latter scenario is patently unacceptable.
To this end, the FBI, through its Defensive Systems Unit (DSU), is unveiling a new program intended to directly assist underfunded state and local law enforcement partners by donating its surplus body armor. Formally titled the Legacy Body Armor program, this endeavor aims to help alleviate some of the financial burden on departments that do not possess the requisite funding to purchase appropriate body armor for their officers.
Extent of the Problem
According to a study conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), 41 percent of the law enforcement agencies surveyed do not, by policy, require sworn personnel to wear body armor.4 To help put this into perspective, the DOJ’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) reported that there were approximately 14,700 law enforcement agencies around the country with roughly 708,000 officers employed at the end of 2020.5 The BJA–PERF study further advised that 17.7 percent of departments do not provide body armor to their officers, forcing them to purchase their own.6
If the 17.7 percent figure was applied to the BJS numbers, there are over 2,600 agencies not supplying body armor to employees. Applying that same percentage to the total number of full-time officers, there could be over 125,000 officers actively serving their communities with personally purchased ballistic protective armor. When considered alongside the 41 percent of agencies that do not even require sworn personnel to wear body armor, it is apparent that far too many officers are either completely unprotected by ballistic protective armor or, more likely, wearing the cheapest equipment their individual salaries allow for. The Legacy Body Armor program aims to mitigate these numbers so those unfortunate officers do not become a statistic themselves.
Solution
Background
The DSU’s personnel and day-to-day operations are primarily anchored within two separate military bases — the U.S. Marine Corps Base at Quantico, Virginia, and the U.S. Army’s Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. This unit holds responsibility for the complete life cycle management — from procurement assistance to final disposition — of all FBI ammunition, ballistic protective equipment, and weapons systems to help ensure the operational success and ultimate survivability of FBI personnel. Duties include asset purchases, logistics management, and operational support to all FBI entities, as well as law enforcement partners at the local, state, tribal, and federal levels.
“It is unthinkable for today’s police personnel to go into a situation like the North Hollywood shootout without body armor or with some type of low-quality body armor kit.”
As an agency, the FBI strives to provide the best available equipment, including body armor, to its personnel. To see that manufacturer guidelines are followed, the 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.
Over the years, the DSU has collected a substantial number 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 the armor:
- Remains in serviceable condition.
- Is surplus property.
- Meets or exceeds the ballistic resistant requirements of the National Institute of Justice.7
In essence, this federal statute legally authorizes the DSU to repurpose its vast surplus of ballistic protective armor via donation to identified state and local law enforcement agencies that cannot otherwise provide such equipment to sworn personnel.
Because each piece of body armor is generally manufactured with a warranty, the owner knows when to replace it. Current research shows that despite a warranty expiration, body armor is much more resilient than initially believed. This means that the warranty period does not necessarily indicate the armor’s useful lifespan. However, there are challenges associated with this conclusion.
For instance, no definitive data exists regarding how long a panel of soft armor will last before it needs replacement. Complicating this is the sheer number of manufacturers worldwide. Additionally, differences in manufacturing complicate any meaningful determination for lifespan. With several models often available for purchase, each manufacturer might use different fabrics and varying numbers of layers. This means that any attempt to estimate the useful life of body armor by generalizing among these variables would be untenable.
Soft Body Armor Kit
“As it stands, officers who serve with departments unable to provide protective equipment then must choose to either buy their own or go without entirely.”
Soft Armor Research and Testing
Between 2019-2020, the FBI’s Ballistic Research Facility (BRF) conducted extensive testing on over 300 legacy body armor surplus panels by utilizing over 600 individual test shots with the highest threat level projectiles (9 mm, 124 grain 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 — on the makes and models tested — occurred on panels manufactured after 2002. This is not asserting that all brands and models made after 2002 were tested, nor is it known if untested panels would have passed. Simply and singularly, those specific samples of soft armor panels stored within the FBI’s inventory during 2019-2020 were tested and did not fail.
Hard Armor Research and Testing
Ceramic
The 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 (.308 150 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 be negatively impacted by moisture. However, 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 affect the performance of ceramic plates. It is imperative to look for any signs of physical damage before donning any ballistic-resistant item.
Ceramic Hard Armor Plate
Steel
The steel hard armor protective plates within the DSU’s inventory available for donation are certified NIJ Level III, and their ballistic resistance does not degrade over time. Steel plates weigh more than ceramic, which some users may see as a negative characteristic, particularly among those involved in tactical operations who may wear them for extended periods.
Steel Hard Armor Plate
Implementation
FBI Director Christopher Wray has approved of and supports the issuance of body armor to smaller, underfunded state and local law enforcement partners that do not have funding to sufficiently provide such equipment for their sworn personnel. In a concentrated effort to positively impact those agencies, the DSU has initiated the body armor donation process to qualifying departments throughout the country.
By mid-2023, the 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. As of October 1, 2023, the approximate cost of the donated equipment to those initial agencies totaled just under $700,000. Additional agencies are identified and assisted through this program daily by DSU personnel working in close conjunction with field office counterparts.
All 56 FBI field offices are in direct communication with the DSU through their principal firearms instructor (PFI) cadre — any police departments that contact the DSU directly will be redirected to their respective field offices. Each field office identifies five qualifying departments within their area of operation (AOR) and ranks them according to demonstrated need. It is highly recommended for each field office’s PFI to garner help from supervisory agents at the FBI’s smaller offices to identify qualifying departments.
Prior to order fulfillment, each office must notify the DSU of any subsequent changes to the initial order due to law enforcement personnel leaving the department and/or new officers coming on board. The DSU fulfills 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 the DSU will be able to sustain follow-on armor requests for qualifying agencies identified past the fulfillment of the initial order.
After shipping the body armor to each receiving field office, the DSU documents the delivery/transfer according to current FBI policy practices. Once those initial orders are fulfilled, the DSU repeats the process, adhering to its fair distribution standard, for as long as the supply of surplus armor lasts.
Ballistic Armor Kit Inventory
Sizing
Each FBI field office holds responsibility for submitting the identified law enforcement partners’ proper sizing measurements to the DSU.
The DSU developed an internal sizing procedure to mitigate any potential fitment issues with the soft body armor kits 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.
During the BETA test, each one of those agencies noted the fitment of the equipment was excellent.
Ceramic and Steel Plates
When in stock, ceramic and steel plates will be issued, with availability limited by what quantities field offices return to the DSU over time. Any currently issued plates will likely remain out in the field with agents for their entire career, which differs from any currently issued soft armor. As such, the DSU does not foresee a continuous supply of ceramic and steel plates available for donation in the near future.
Conclusion
The goal for the Legacy Body Armor program is twofold. First, 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.
This program removes any additional financial costs associated with the post-life-cycle destruction of operational body armor, a longtime DSU responsibility. This, ultimately, allows the FBI to avoid additional costs while also successfully repurposing items that can be effectively utilized elsewhere.
The program succeeds because of each FBI field office’s assistance in identifying potential recipient agencies in their respective AOR and expeditiously returning soft armor and ballistic plates as new armor is assigned.
“FBI Director Christopher Wray has approved of and supports the issuance of body armor to smaller, underfunded state and local law enforcement partners that do not have funding to sufficiently provide such equipment for their sworn personnel.”
Assistant Section Chief Young can be reached at mwyoung@fbi.gov.
Endnotes
1 Los Angeles Police Department, Intradepartmental Correspondence, June 12, 1998, accessed October 1, 2024, https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/3475142/UseofForceReview6-12-98.pdf.
2 Ibid.
3 Ibid.
4 U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance, and Police Executive Research Forum, The BJA/PERF Body Armor National Survey: Protecting the Nation’s Law Enforcement Officers (Washington: Police Executive Research Forum, 2009), https://bja.ojp.gov/sites/g/files/xyckuh186/files/Publications/PERF_BodyArmor.pdf.
5 U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Local Police Departments Personnel, 2020, NCJ 305187, November 2022, NCJ 305187, https://bjs.ojp.gov/sites/g/files/xyckuh236/files/media/document/lpdp20.pdf.
6 The BJA/PERF Body Armor National Survey: Protecting the Nation’s Law Enforcement Officers.
7 S. 166, 107th Cong. (2001-2002), James Guelff and Chris McCurley Body Armor Act of 2001, https://www.congress.gov/bill/107th-congress/senate-bill/166/text.