Remarks Of Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.),
Ranking Member, Judiciary Committee,
And Author, Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Program
News Conference
Funding For The Bulletproof Vest Partnership Program
Monday, May 15, 2006

It is an honor to be here today with these dedicated officials representing America’s police officers, who have made it their sworn duty to protect the public.  And I am proud of the leadership of this group in our effort to raise awareness of the importance of ensuring that every police officer who needs a bulletproof vest, gets a bulletproof vest.

This is a day and a week that we dedicate each year to commemorating America’s fallen police officers, to renewing our bond with their families, and to thanking those who put their lives on the line for us each day when they put on a police badge.

The dangers of police work can strike unexpectedly, even in a precinct parking lot.  Just last week, all of us were brought face-to-face once again with the grim reality of what this day is about with the events in Fairfax County Virginia, not far from here, across the river.  A week ago today, in a hail of senseless gunfire, Detective Vicky Armel was taken from us, and Officer Michael Garbarino was critically wounded.  The Capitol Building behind us has also known this kind of tragedy in recent times.

But this annual commemoration at the Capitol Building should be more than a time of passive reflection.  It should also be a time to rededicate ourselves to doing those things that can help relieve or prevent this kind of suffering and loss.

The 850,000 men and women who serve as our guardians of law and order do so at great risk.  They respond without hesitation, and with incredible dedication and skill.  There are those here with us today who know first hand about that kind of valor and dedication among the officers who were lost on 9/11 at the World Trade Center.

Several years ago, when I discovered that so few of our local and state law enforcement officers were equipped with body armor such as bulletproof vests, which has typically been standard equipment for federal law enforcement officers, I knew we had an obligation to change that.  I sat down with my friend, former Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, and we wrote the charter for the Bulletproof Vest Grant Partnership Acts of 1998, 2000 and 2003.  Last year Congress agreed to reauthorize the program again, at $50 million per year, and through the year 2009.

Year after year, the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Program saves lives and spares injuries of law enforcement officers nationwide by making it possible for state and local law enforcement agencies to buy body armor for their officers.  Since we began it in 1999, this highly successful program has made possible the purchase of an estimated 450,000 bulletproof vests for officers in 12,000 jurisdictions nationwide.  In Vermont, more than 150 communities have used this partnership help buy more than 2,000 vests.  Without this partnership, I daresay there would be close to that number of police officers without vests in Vermont today.

Compounding the ongoing funding needs to help purchase vests, concerns from the law enforcement community over the effectiveness of body armor surfaced nearly two years ago when a Pennsylvania police officer was shot and critically wounded through his relatively new body armor vest.  In August 2005, the Justice Department announced that test results indicated that used vests equipped with a material called Zylon may not provide the intended level of ballistic resistance.  Unfortunately, an estimated 200,000 of these faulty vests have been purchased – many with Vest Partnership funds – and now need to be replaced.

We know that body armor saves lives, but the cost has put these vests out of the reach of many of the officers who need them, and of their departments.  This program has made it more affordable for police departments of all sizes, and that is why I was dismayed to see that the President’s budget for 2007 proposes slashing this program by 63 percent from last year’s level, stranding it at just over $9 million.  Bulletproof vests for America’s police officers, and the modest expense of fully funding this partnership program, is my definition of a high budget priority.  I know that our police officers see it that way too, and I believe that all Americans do.  Congress needs to reject that White House recommendation, and instead we need to make these vests a priority by fully funding this partnership program, in the budget decisions that lie directly ahead for the Congress.

Few things mean more to me than when I meet police officers in Vermont and across the nation  and they tell me that the protective vests they wear were made possible because of this program.  We continue to lose too many of our law enforcement officers to criminal acts and high-risk situations.  They should not have to worry, in addition, about whether or not they can afford vests to protect them.

If we can take at least this one worry from their shoulders, we can and we should do it.

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