[Senate Hearing 110-401]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 110-401
THE BULLETPROOF VEST PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM: PROTECTING OUR NATION'S LAW
ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS
=======================================================================
HEARING
before the
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
MAY 13, 2008
__________
Serial No. J-110-92
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary
----------
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
42-726 PDF WASHINGTON : 2008
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing
Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512-1800;
DC area (202) 512-1800 Fax: (202) 512-2104 Mail: Stop IDCC,
Washington, DC 20402-0001
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont, Chairman
EDWARD M. KENNEDY, Massachusetts ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania
JOSEPH R. BIDEN, Jr., Delaware ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah
HERB KOHL, Wisconsin CHARLES E. GRASSLEY, Iowa
DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California JON KYL, Arizona
RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama
CHARLES E. SCHUMER, New York LINDSEY O. GRAHAM, South Carolina
RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois JOHN CORNYN, Texas
BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas
SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island TOM COBURN, Oklahoma
Bruce A. Cohen, Chief Counsel and Staff Director
Stephanie A. Middleton, Republican Staff Director
Nicholas A. Rossi, Republican Chief Counsel
C O N T E N T S
----------
STATEMENTS OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Page
Feingold, Hon. Russell D., a U.S. Senator from the State of
Wisconsin, prepared statement.................................. 12
Leahy, Hon. Patrick J., a U.S. Senator from the State of Vermont. 1
prepared statement........................................... 17
WITNESSES
Azur, David, Detective, Baltimore City Police Department,
Baltimore, Maryland............................................ 5
Macarilla, Michael, Lieutenant, Vermont State Police, Waterbury,
Vermont........................................................ 3
SUBMISSIONS FOR THE RECORD
Azur, David, Detective, Baltimore City Police Department,
Baltimore, Maryland, statement................................. 10
Herraiz, Domingo S., Director, Bureau of Justice Assistance,
Office of Justice Programs, Department of Justice, Washington,
D.C., statement................................................ 13
Macarilla, Michael, Lieutenant, Vermont State Police, Waterbury,
Vermont, statement............................................. 19
THE BULLETPROOF VEST PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM: PROTECTING OUR NATION'S LAW
ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS
----------
TUESDAY, MAY 13, 2008
U.S. Senate,
Committee on the Judiciary,
Washington, D.C.
The Committee met, Pursuant to notice, at 9:34 a.m., in
room SD-226, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Patrick J.
Leahy, Chairman of the Committee, presiding.
Present: Senator Leahy.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. PATRICK J. LEAHY, A U.S. SENATOR FROM
THE STATE OF VERMONT
Chairman Leahy. Good morning, and I am pleased to convene
today's hearing about the Bulletproof Vest Partnership grant
program during National Police Week. Lieutenant Macarilla and
Detective Azur, please come up and sit down.
I thank our witnesses for taking time during this week of
very important events and meaningful ceremonies to appear
before this Committee and share their experiences with us to
help us better understand the importance of body armor for our
peace officers.
Incidentally, I am looking forward to Thursday morning to
be at the events on the West Front of the Capitol, as I am most
years, because this is the week that law enforcement officers
come from around the country, they come to Washington to honor
the men and women who have given their lives in the line of
service over the past year.
One thing with the ceremony, it shows that all Americans
join in expressing their gratitude to these officers and, of
course, to their families. I hope today's hearing will add to
the recognition of the tremendously important jobs all of you
do, and that Congress and the American people will take the
time to reflect upon the sacrifices you make. I know I speak
for all Americans in thanking you and all of the men and women
serving in law enforcement for your service to our communities
and to the people of the United States.
The intent of this hearing is to highlight the importance
of the Bulletproof Vest Partnership grant program. We are going
to hear directly from those who are on the other end of that
body armor program.
I want to have the forum also so I could let Members of
Congress know how important the bulletproof vests are to not
only the officers but to their families. This week at
Thursday's memorial, we will recognize and remember the
officers lost in the line of duty during the last year. There
were 181 officers. Each death is a tragedy, but this is the
largest yearly total since the extraordinary losses on 9/11 and
its aftermath. Let me emphasize that we have to do all we can
to protect the men and women who protect us.
One of the officers with us today has had firsthand
experience with the importance of armor vests, and I am
grateful to him for his willingness to share the experience
with the Committee. I am also very pleased that Lieutenant
Michael Macarilla from the Vermont State Police is here with us
to share his insights into this program. The lieutenant has
done something I am not quite sure I could have done, but he
arrived in Washington by bicycle. Our State Police normally do
not patrol in Vermont by bicycle. There is a T-shirt which
says, ``Vermont is not flat.'' And it is not. But he rode 300
miles from New Jersey with other police officers in the Police
Unity Tour to raise awareness about those who have lost their
lives and to raise funds for the Law Enforcement Officers
Memorial and Museum. Michael, thank you for doing that.
I was proud to initiate the Bulletproof Vest Partnership
Act. I did it with Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, the former
Senator from Colorado, and who had also been a deputy sheriff.
Between 1999 and 2007, our bill gave $234 million to the
States, and that means 818,044 vests. It is great that the law
we enacted is having a real impact on the security of our
officers. I have had a lot of officers come up to me in
airports all over the country and other cities and say, ``I
heard you wrote the vest program.'' They will tap their chest,
and they will say, ``Thank you.'' I say ``Thank you'' to them
for protecting us.
Now, the President's budget has repeatedly left out funding
for this program, but Congress has stepped up, we have
recognized its importance. We have put together a bipartisan
coalition to keep it strong. I hope we will do it again. It may
be easy for somebody who is just looking at Federal grant
programs as just numbers and find ways to reduce Federal
spending. But when it comes to the safety of law enforcement
officers, I can think of no rational excuse not to fully fund
what Congress requires in this program. And for those of us who
had the privilege of serving in law enforcement before we came
here, we know how important that is.
Bulletproof vests are expensive; no officer should be
without one. They should be basic equipment. We should be past
the time when this is viewed by departments as optional or when
officers, who do not get that great a salary begin with, are
told to pay for it themselves. The vests are a fundamental part
of keeping officers safe in the line of duty, and if State and
local jurisdictions are unable to pay for it, I think the
Federal Government should step up. If we can afford to send
over $1 billion to pay for equipment for the Iraqi Police
Department--and then we do not know where most of it went--we
ought to be able to take care of the police departments in our
own country. So let us pay for training and equipment for our
officers. Let's do some of the things we need to do here at
home.
I am introducing today a bill to reauthorize this program
for another 3 years, and this week the Judiciary Committee will
take up legislation to give the Director of the Bureau of
Justice Assistance at the Justice Department the authority to
waive the Act's matching requirement.
I will put the rest of my statement in the record. I want
to hear from the witnesses, and I know we are going to have
votes here in a while on the floor.
[The prepared statement of Chairman Leahy appears as a
submission for the record.]
Chairman Leahy. Michael Macarilla is a lieutenant with the
Vermont State Police. He works to distribute bulletproof vests
to officers in our State, and we talked about this back home in
Vermont. He began his service with the State troopers in 1989.
He became a lieutenant in 2006. He worked in the Bureau of
Criminal Investigation from 1998 to 2003. He was a liaison with
the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. He served on
various volunteer fire departments and ambulance squads over
the years. He has been on the Executive Board of Vermont
Troopers Foundation from 2000 to 2007.
And then he will be joined by Detective David Azur. He is a
detective with the Baltimore Police Department in Baltimore,
Maryland. He also works as a task force officer for the Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. Detective Azur began serving
with the Baltimore Police in 1993 as a patrol officer. He
became a detective in 1997. He was subsequently assigned to a
multi-jurisdictional auto theft task force. While working for
the regional auto theft task force in 2000, Detective Azur was
shot in the line of duty at point-blank range. He survived
because he was wearing a bulletproof vest, and he was awarded
the Medal of Valor for his actions that day and has been
awarded the Exceptional Police Performance Award by the
Baltimore County Police Foundation. I hope I do not sound
parochial in pointing out that he is from South Burlington,
Vermont, and he attended the University of Vermont and Florida
State University.
So, Lieutenant Macarilla, we will begin with you, sir. Go
ahead.
STATEMENT OF LIEUTENANT MICHAEL MACARILLA, VERMONT STATE
POLICE, WATERBURY, VERMONT
Mr. Macarilla. Senator Leahy, distinguished members of the
Committee, I am Lieutenant Michael Macarilla of the Vermont
State Police.
This morning, I am honored to share with you the
experiences my Department has had with the Bulletproof Vest
grant program from its inception 10 years ago.
The Vermont Department of Public Safety has had an
extensive and successful working relationship with Senator
Leahy and with the Bureau of Justice Assistance. In 1998,
Senator Leahy cosponsored the Bulletproof Vest Partnership
Grant Act at a time when our department was regrouping in the
aftermath of the so-called Colebrook Incident.
On August 19, 1997, a lone gunman killed four people in
northern New Hampshire, including New Hampshire State Troopers
Scott Phillips and Leslie Lord. The gunman also wounded four
additional law enforcement officers in ambush fashion. The
rampage began in New Hampshire, but moved into Vermont where
the gunman was finally stopped by a combined force of Vermont,
New Hampshire, and Federal law enforcement officers.
At that time, Vermont State Troopers did not have ballistic
body armor provided by the Department. Each trooper made the
personal decision whether to purchase this life-saving, yet
expensive, equipment. As a result of extensive after-action
reviews, the Vermont State Police committed to providing
ballistic body armor to each member of the Department.
On the national level, Congress recognized the need to help
local, county, and State law enforcement agencies by supporting
the purchase of body armor through the Bulletproof Vest
Partnership Grant Act.
As administered by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the
Act has allowed the Vermont State Police to purchase over 350
sets of ballistic body armor over the last 10 years. A credit
to the provisions of the Act, the expense of this investment is
half of what the actual cost for the department would have
been. This provides a savings to the department that can be
used for other equally critical needs. Although the department
was committed to the purchase of ballistic body armor
regardless of the passage of the Act, certainly the force-
multiplying effect of the Act should not be understated. While
the dollar amounts may seem small by national standards, this
support is often the critical difference when a small agency is
faced with prioritizing how to spend limited dollars on what is
truly life-saving equipment.
We understand that there is discussion concerning an option
to permit the Bureau of Justice Assistance to waive the
matching funds requirement of the Act. The Vermont Department
of Public Safety supports that concept. The Bureau of Justice
Assistance has been an outstanding partner with the States.
Under the leadership of Director Domingo Herraiz, the Bureau
has worked diligently to get funding resources and technical
assistance out to the field with a minimum of bureaucratic
hurdles. The authority to waive matching requirements for
agencies that need that latitude will continue the proven
effectiveness of the BJA.
Vermont has been fortunate in not having the experience of
other States with officers being wounded or killed by gunfire.
The Committee will continue to hear from law enforcement
officers who owe their lives to the presence of this grant
program.
In March of this year, Senator Leahy and Senator Specter
traveled to Rutland, Vermont, and heard testimony from
Vermonters on the influx of more brazen, violent actions
related to drug-trafficking activity. Vermont is not immune to
violence, and Vermont law enforcement--and Vermont State Police
agencies are greatly indebted to the ongoing support we receive
from your efforts in the combined justice assistance programs
that are available to us. Your efforts to protect us with these
programs, such as the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant, allow
us to protect our citizens.
Thank you for the honor and opportunity to offer this
testimony today.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Macarilla appears as a
submission for the record.]
Chairman Leahy. Well, thank you for being here. We are
going to go into questions in a minute, but you speak about the
Draga event that involved both States and Federal authorities
near the Canadian border. It was just horrible. A lot of things
came out of that, not only the bulletproof vests but more
effort at having the ability for various jurisdictions to speak
to each other on radios. As you know, we have lots of dead
spots where cell phones are no good.
The then-Director of the FBI, Louis Freeh, was staying at
my home in Vermont, in Middlesex--and you know where that is.
Mr. Macarilla. Yes, sir.
Chairman Leahy. We decided to drive down to the hospital,
just the two of us, and see one of the Federal agents who had
been badly wounded. It was not until I came there that I made
the connection with his last name. His father had been a
professor of mine at St. Michael's College, and I had known
him--I first saw this officer when he was about a month old.
And it was quite emotional. He survived--severely wounded, but
survived. Not all the officers did, as you know.
Detective Azur, would you please give your testimony? I
know what is in it, but I think we should hear that.
STATEMENT OF DETECTIVE DAVID AZUR, BALTIMORE CITY POLICE
DEPARTMENT, BALTIMORE, MARYLAND
Mr. Azur. Thank you. Good morning again. Thank you for the
opportunity to speak here today. It is truly an honor.
My name is David Azur, and I am a detective with the
Baltimore City Police Department in Maryland. I would like to
share with you why I believe so strongly in the importance of
every officer wearing a bulletproof vest.
I have been a police officer since 1993 and became a
detective in 1997. On July 24, 2000, I was a member of a multi-
jurisdictional auto theft task force. Our goal was to apprehend
car thieves while they were driving stolen vehicles. I was
working in plain clothes and was operating an unmarked sport
utility vehicle. I wore a PACA brand bulletproof vest in a
black tactical carrier that I wore over my shirt. The vest was
clearly marked ``POLICE'' in big, bold letters, and it was
issued to me in August 1995.
At approximately 12:30 in the afternoon, I observed a
suspected stolen vehicle traveling northbound on Pennsylvania
Avenue in Baltimore City. With the assistance of additional
units from the auto theft task force, we stopped the vehicle at
a red light on a busy main street in Baltimore. I approached
the passenger side of the vehicle and spoke with both the
driver and the passenger through an open window. My partner
approached the driver side of the vehicle as well. I asked the
driver who owned the vehicle. He said he obtained the vehicle
from an unknown male earlier in the day and did not know who
owned the car. I told my partner to pull the driver out of the
vehicle and to place him under arrest. I then removed the
passenger from the vehicle and immediately got into a struggle
with him.
The car door was open, and I had the suspect pinned up
against the car between the open door and the passenger seat,
my chest against his back. As I was restraining him, he
attempted to grab something from his pocket, which I assumed
were drugs that he was trying to dispose of. I had his left arm
pinned to the top of the car, and I reached around and grabbed
his right arm. A third officer, who had arrived on the scene
and was standing on the other side of the open passenger door,
attempted to grab the suspect's right arm as well. Just as the
officer grabbed the suspect's arm, the suspect rotated to his
left, and I heard a gunshot. Unbeknownst to me, the suspect had
a .38-caliber revolver in his waist, which he had grabbed with
his right hand. He reached around his body, positioning the gun
under his left armpit. When he rotated to the left, he shot me
at point-blank range, dead center in the chest. The gunshot
threw me back, but did not knock me down. The suspect took off
running, and the two officers on the scene with me took off
running after him. Nobody knew that I had been shot, including
myself.
Perhaps 5 to 10 seconds later I heard a second gunshot,
which was the suspect committing suicide. It was at that point
that I felt the pain in my chest and realized that I had been
shot. I gasped for air and shouted to an officer about 20 feet
away from me that I had been shot. He was shocked and shouted
back, ``What?'' I told him that I had been shot. I then grabbed
my handheld radio and alerted the police dispatcher that I had
been shot and waited for help to arrive. I ripped off my vest
and asked the officer ``Where's the blood?'' He told me that
the bullet didn't go through the vest, and I replied that it
still hurt like hell. My chest bruised almost instantly, and by
the time the medic arrived on the scene, I had a bruise the
size of a volleyball on my chest.
I was taken to the University of Maryland's Shock Trauma
Unit and was told that if I hadn't been wearing my bulletproof
vest that in all likelihood I would have died. I was released
from the hospital less than 5 hours after having been shot in
the chest at point-blank range. I suffered minor nerve damage,
which I still have to this day, but it is a small price to pay
for what could have happened if I had not been wearing my vest.
Many people view the day that I got shot as a terrible day,
but I view it as just the opposite. I am lucky to be alive and
owe my life to the bulletproof vest. Every officer should have
a bulletproof vest. If there is anything that I can do or say
to help officers obtain and wear their vest, then I would love
to do it and feel as though it is the least that I can do.
Again, thank you for your time, and it has been an honor.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Azur appears as a submission
for the record.]
Chairman Leahy. You said if there is anything you could say
or do. You have, and I can assure you that every member of this
Committee is going to see that testimony.
I notice that Jim Pasco, the Executive Director of the FOP,
just came in, and, Jim, would you stand up so these officers
can see you.
The FOP has been tremendous in its support of the
bulletproof vest program, and I am sure they will take note of
the testimony of both of you.
Let me ask Lieutenant Macarilla this: In the Justice
Department, the Department of Justice is administering this.
Mostly there are parts where they do it very well, and parts
where maybe they should do it better. Can you talk about both?
Where do you think they do the best, where do you think they
might do better?
Mr. Macarilla. Our experience in Vermont has been quite
positive. They make the moneys available to our grants
specialist. She lets us know how much money we have to spend on
the vests, and then they reimburse us after the vests are
purchased. We cannot match those Federal funds with other
Federal funds such as funds that we take from drug dealers, the
profits of drug sales. That may be something that may need to
be looked into so that funds that are seized from a drug deal
that are supposed to go back into law enforcement can also be
used to purchase the vests for the other half.
Chairman Leahy. You know, Marc Metayer is now the Deputy
Commissioner of the Vermont Department of Public Safety. He
helped a lot in the passage of the original law. My office
worked with him, and I worked closely with him. In fact, at the
signing ceremony, he was here and made comments about
introducing the President, President Clinton at that time. He
described how for 20 years as a State trooper he has purchased
his own body armor, but also for many that was not a
possibility. And, of course, after the Carl Draga matter we
talked about, he realized how important it was.
Our State is probably typical of rural areas with the
exception of Burlington, South Burlington. Most of the police
departments are fairly small, and in a lot of towns there may
be a one-person police department, if that. Otherwise, we rely
on the State Police or sheriff's departments. Do you find that
some of these towns have problems matching the amount of
money--or doing the matching funds to buy vests?
Mr. Macarilla. They do. Small towns like the town I live
in, Waterbury, I think 70 percent of the village's budget goes
to the police department as it is. With resources as limited as
they are for a small five- or six-man department, they can run
into problems getting the matching grants. And then they also
have to have the administrators within the village government
to go out and do the research and make sure they apply for the
funding to come back to the departments afterwards. So it can
be for the smaller towns very troublesome.
Chairman Leahy. They also have--of course, sometimes you
have departments that have gone through terrible tragedies,
Katrina and things like that, and there is no money for
anything.
Mr. Macarilla. Right.
Chairman Leahy. And the matching funds can be more than
enough. You know, it worries me also, again, with these small
areas. They happen to have no back-up, and they are often the
only person on the scene, and you would think that you would
want, if anything, to require even more equipment to be there.
Mr. Macarilla. Right.
Chairman Leahy. And one of the things when I first got into
this with Senator Campbell and I started researching it, I was
surprised--and when I was a prosecutor, you almost never saw
any kind of body armor, not the type of things we have today.
But I was surprised to find out these things break down. They
wear out. Is that correct?
Mr. Macarilla. The manufacturers only warranty them for 5
years, regardless of how much they have been used during that
5-year period. So every 5 years, we have to replace the body
armor that is issued to the officers.
Chairman Leahy. And, Detective Azur, do you still have that
vest?
Mr. Azur. I do, sir. This is the trauma plate. You know, in
addition to my ballistic vest that goes around my body, I have
got a pound in the center that holds this plate.
Chairman Leahy. Would you hold that up?
Mr. Azur. And this is where the bullet struck me. It looks
like a little tiny smudge mark.
Chairman Leahy. It didn't feel like that on the other side,
did it?
Mr. Azur. Yes, it felt like a sledgehammer, and it hit me
in the chest. And talking about the warranty on the vest, my
vest was issued to me in August 1995, so the warranty expired
in August 2000, and I got shot on July 24th of 2000.
Chairman Leahy. Man, you got lucky all around. You know, it
seems almost wrong to say this, but if you had not had it, you
might not have felt anything. You would have been dead.
Mr. Azur. Absolutely. Yes, I have no doubt about that
whatsoever.
Chairman Leahy. Wearing that vest--I mean, if you had not
been wearing a vest, would you not have still reacted--I mean,
you would have gone and tried to make the arrest and everything
else?
Mr. Azur. Absolutely.
Chairman Leahy. That is your job, right?
Mr. Azur. Yes, although there has never been a day when I
have not worn my vest. It is just part of my standard
equipment. I cannot imagine going on the street without wearing
my gun, and I cannot imagine going on the street without
wearing my vest.
Chairman Leahy. Is there a mandatory policy for the
Baltimore Police?
Mr. Azur. There is, although, you know, there is personal
choice. There are still many members of the department that do
not wear their vests, which just amazes me. But it is a matter
of personal choice, and it is essential equipment that you must
have.
Chairman Leahy. Well, probably you will talk about--one of
the things I learned as a prosecutor is never ask a question if
you do not know the answer. I think I know the answer to this,
but would both of you agree we ought to be reauthorizing this
program?
Mr. Macarilla. Yes, sir.
Mr. Azur. Yes, sir.
Chairman Leahy. And you like the idea for giving the
department the ability to waive the matching, if necessary?
Mr. Macarilla. I think with the smaller towns, with the
limited resources they have, that is a necessity.
Chairman Leahy. Well, I am going to introduce a bipartisan
bill to reauthorize this program for another 3 years, and I am
going to do that today. Congressman Visclosky is going to do
that in the House. This is not a matter of Republicans or
Democrats. That is why when Senator Campbell and I first joined
on it, we made it very clear that it is not a Republican or a
Democratic bill. This is a law enforcement bill.
I know Senator Shelby, Republican from Alabama, and Senator
Mikulski, Democrat from Maryland and the Chair of one of the
Subcommittees and in Appropriations, have worked hard on this
also. We will try to get this passed.
I think many of the members on this Committee served in one
form or another in law enforcement, as I did. We understand it.
But I think it is important, and that is why I thank the FOP
and others who are getting the word out how important it is to
let people know. You have helped a great deal with that. I
think that it is important that we hear these real-life things.
You talked about the Draga incident, which I remember very,
very well, and both FBI Director Freeh and I were--the phones
were very busy at my farmhouse during that week. And, Detective
Azur, we will let your family back in Vermont know you were
here. I am sure they were delighted that you were OK after
that.
Mr. Azur. Yes.
Chairman Leahy. I am also going to submit for the record a
statement submitted by the Bureau of Justice Assistance
Director Domingo Herraiz, and I thank Director Herraiz and the
Department of Justice for their work on this.
We will adjourn because we are going to have votes, but
obviously, I support the bill. I know it has the strong support
of the Fraternal order of Police. I am hoping that we can put
this one on a fast track. I do not want to have any place where
we go a few months without it. I live in a town of--you live in
Waterbury, Lieutenant. How many people in Waterbury?
Mr. Macarilla. A couple thousand.
Chairman Leahy. Yes. And Middlesex has 1,200 where I am,
the adjoining town. Montpelier, our State capital, has 8,500,
where I was born. So you are the big-city guy here, Detective.
Mr. Azur. I miss Vermont.
[Laughter.]
Chairman Leahy. Well, I am going to be there this weekend,
and I look forward to being there. And I look forward to being
home. I know that we have excellent law enforcement in our
State, as you do in yours. And I also sometimes think that a
lot of people do not realize what law enforcement people do for
the hours they put in.
Thank you very much, and we will stand in recess.
Mr. Macarilla. Thank you, sir.
Mr. Azur. Thank you, sir.
[Whereupon, at 10:04 a.m., the Committee was adjourned.]
[Submissions for the record follow.]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]