[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 138 (Saturday, October 28, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1978-E1979]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E1978]]
             BULLETPROOF VEST PARTNERSHIP GRANT ACT OF 2000

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. PETER J. VISCLOSKY

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, October 25, 2000

  Mr. VISCLOSKY. Mr. Speaker, I support S. 2413, the Bulletproof Vest 
Partnership Grant Act of 2000. I would like to recognize over 260 of my 
colleagues who joined me as a cosponsor of H.R. 4033, an identical 
House version of this bipartisan legislation designed to save the lives 
of police officers, which my colleague from New Jersey, Frank LoBiondo, 
and I sponsored and which was approved overwhelmingly by the House 
earlier this year. Mr. LoBiondo has once again proven that he is an 
indispensable leader on this vital issue. His commitment to police 
officers in his district and nationwide is absolutely unquestionable. 
Furthermore, he has repeatedly championed the cause of corrections 
officers, who are often the forgotten arm of the law enforcement 
community. In this age of expanding and increasingly violent prison 
populations, Mr. LoBiondo has taken the lead in pushing for the 
development and use of stabproof vests to protect those who keep 
violent criminals behind bars. I am pleased to say that, largely due to 
his efforts, S. 2413 includes provisions which will make stabproof 
vests available under the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant program. 
Mr. LoBiondo's staff, especially his Legislative Assistant, Bryan 
Cunningham, have been incredibly helpful in this process. Their work 
has been a worthy reflection of Mr. LoBiondo's long-standing commitment 
to the protection of our nation's law enforcement officers. I would 
also like to extend my thanks to Senator Campbell and Senator Leahy, 
the Senate sponsors of this legislation. It has been my pleasure to 
work with them to see this bill passed before the conclusion of the 
106th Congress.
  I would like to express my deep appreciation to Crime Subcommittee 
Chairman Bill McCollum, whose dedication to this program has proven 
invaluable in securing a speedy floor vote on this reauthorization. I 
also owe a debt of gratitude to Carl Thorsen, a member of the Judiciary 
Committee staff. Formerly an assistant to Mr. LoBiondo, Carl worked 
with us on the original authorization of this program and has been a 
valuable ally in our efforts to pass bulletproof vest legislation in 
the 106th Congress. The Crime Subcommittee's Ranking Democrat, Bobby 
Scott, has also lent his powerful voice to this important cause. I 
commend his efforts in pushing this legislation forward, and thank him 
on behalf of the police and corrections officers who will benefit from 
its enactment. Bobby Vassar, on Mr. Scott's staff, also deserves praise 
for his dedication and support, which helped make an often long and 
difficult process fast and painless. All of these gentlemen recognize 
the importance of this legislation to law enforcement officers, who put 
their lives on the line every day for our safety.
  As an appropriator, I would be remiss if I did not mention the 
considerable assistance we have received from the Chairman and Ranking 
Member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State, 
and the Judiciary. Chairman Harold Rogers and Ranking Democrat Jose 
Serrano have been instrumental in ensuring that this program is 
consistently funded at its authorized level.
  Finally, I would like to thank the members of the law enforcement 
community who have worked with me and my staff to ensure that we 
crafted the best possible legislation to meet their needs. I am proud 
that the Fraternal Order of Police, National Sheriffs' Association, 
International Union of Police Associations, AFL-CIO, National Troopers' 
Coalition, Police Executive Research Forum, and the Law Enforcement 
Alliance of America have placed their collective memberships of over 
500,000 law enforcement
  The seed for the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant program was 
planted over six years ago, when I was told by local police officers 
that many gang members and drug dealers in Northwest Indiana had the 
protection of bulletproof vests, while many of the police officers who 
patrol the streets in my district did not. I was absolutely stunned by 
this. I believe that when police officers are issued guns and badges, 
they should be issued a bulletproof vest as well. If we are going to 
ask these men and women to risk their lives to keep our streets safe, 
we have a responsibility to ensure they have the equipment needed to do 
their job. Unfortunately, we often fall short of this obligation.
  Each year, hundreds of police officers in this nation are killed in 
the line of duty. Studies show that, between 1980 and 1996, there were 
1,182 felonious deaths of police officers due to firearms. Of those 
deaths, 924 of the officers were not wearing bulletproof vests. Wounds 
to the torso area killed 42 percent of those officers; wounds that 
could have been prevented had those officers been equipped with 
bulletproof vests. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has estimated 
that risk of fatality from a firearm for officers not wearing body 
armor is 14 times higher than for officers wearing body armor. In fact, 
modern bulletproof material has saved the lives of more than 2,500 
police officers from gunfire since its introduction in the mid-1970's. 
However, bulletproof vests are not limited to stopping bullets. Police 
officers will attest to vests' roles in saving their lives from impact 
during car accidents, adding an extra layer of protection while 
subduing a violent suspect, and giving them the confidence they need to 
carry out dangerous assignments.
  Despite these statistics, tens of thousands of law enforcement 
officers do not even have access to a vest. This problem is accentuated 
by our nation's commitment to beefing up our police forces. In May 
1999, the Department of Justice announced that we had reached our goal 
of putting an additional 100,000 officers on the streets almost a year 
ahead of schedule. But what good is hiring new officers if we cannot 
give them the tools they need to do their jobs?
  I was even more troubled to learn that many law enforcement agencies, 
especially in small towns or rural communities, simply found the costs 
of vests prohibitively expensive. During a visit to a local chapter of 
the Fraternal Order of Police in Dyer, Indiana, officers explained that 
a good vest can cost over $500, while heavier body armor can cost 
almost $1,000. As a result, many agencies are simply unable to budget 
for vests, a fact which sometimes forces officers to purchase vests at 
their own expense. Despite the risk, many officers are unable to 
balance the cost of the vest with the cost of feeding their families, 
making car payments, or sending their children to school.
  Statistics show that officers in small police departments are much 
less likely to have vests than their counterparts in larger departments 
with greater resources. Yet just because they do not have access to 
vests, if does not mean they are immune from the violent crime that 
plagues many of our communities. In this age of cross-country drug and 
illegal firearms trafficking, rural methamphetamine labs, and rapidly 
expanding suburban areas, even rural and small town police officers 
increasingly find themselves faced with dangerous, well-armed 
criminals. Without vests, these officers are at the mercy of these 
criminals.
  Even in larger departments, officers may have vests purchase years 
earlier which are now either worn out or obsolete. The National Law 
Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center at the National 
Institutes of Justice has recommended that bulletproof vests be tested 
every 5 years for bullet resistance degradation. Even as we begin to 
provide vests for the estimated 25 percent of law enforcement and 
corrections officers without access to bulletproof and stabproof body 
armor, other officers are wearing vests that are losing their 
protective qualities due to constant wear and tear.
  In order to alleviate this problem, in 1997, I, along with Mr. 
LoBiondo, introduced H.R. 2829, the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant 
Act. With over 300 co-sponsors, the measure passed by an overwhelming 
margin. Ultimately, a similar measure introduced by Senators Ben 
Nighthorse Campbell and Patrick Leahy was enacted on June 16, 1998. The 
1998 law created a program which authorized $25 million per year to pay 
up to 50 percent of the costs of bulletproof vests for local and state 
law enforcement agencies. In order to ensure that smaller jurisdictions 
received a fair share of the funds, the money was to be distributed 
evenly, with half going to jurisdictions with under 100,000 residents 
and half going to larger jurisdictions.
  In each of the first two years of this program, the Bulletproof Vest 
Partnership Grant program has provided over 3,000 law enforcement 
agencies with funding to purchase over 90,000 bulletproof vests and 
body armor. The program is operated through the Office of Justice 
Programs' first Internet-based funding application process. The web 
site was developed within six months of the appropriation, and offers a 
one-stop application process. The site allows law enforcement agencies 
to log in, purchase vests from a choice of dozens of manufacturers and 
hundreds of styles, and automatically apply for the grant upon 
purchase. This effort garnered the prestigious 1999 Intergovernmental 
Open Systems Solutions Gold Award from the Federation of Government 
Information Processing Councils for the program.
  Unfortunately, in the most recent year of the program, funding was 
insufficient to provide any law enforcement agency with the full 
matching grant requested under the program.

[[Page E1979]]

In fact, the average grant award represented only 30 percent of the 
cost of the vests, a 20 percent shortfall on the federal side. These 
agencies came to us in good faith and committed to providing vests to 
their officers if the federal government matched their funds. For many 
smaller agencies, this shortfall is devastating, and could end up 
taking away funding from other important departmental programs. 
Therefore, we must, in turn, honor our commitment to provide these 
agencies with the full 50 percent of the costs of these vests. In order 
to do so, S. 2413 doubles the yearly authorization of the program to 
$50 million from Fiscal Year (FY) 2002 through FY 2004. This figure, 
based on demand from the first two years of the program, should be 
sufficient to fully fund all grant requests at the 50 percent matching 
level we promised in 1998.
  The original authorization of this program also included a provision 
to allow the purchase of stabproof vests for corrections officers and 
sheriff's deputies who regularly face violent criminals in close 
quarters in our nation's jails. The primary threat to these officers 
comes from homemade knives. The ingenuity displayed in smuggling in and 
creating sharp weapons in prison is phenomenal. This combination of 
violent felons and deadly weapons often leads to explosive conflicts 
into which deputies and corrections officers must insert themselves to 
restore order. In order to do this, they must be confident that they 
have the best protection possible from the criminals they must subdue.
  Unfortunately, the Department of Justice decided that requests for 
funding for stabproof vests under the Bulletproof Vest Partnership 
Grant program were not valid until a national standard for such vests 
is developed by the National Institutes of Justice (NIJ). After over 
two years of development, NIJ continues to delay the implementation of 
such a standard. In order to address this issue, we supported 
amendments to the measures, offered by Chairman McCollum during 
subcommittee consideration of H.R. 4033 in the House and by Senator 
Leahy during floor consideration of S. 2413 in the Senate, which will 
allow states to develop their own stabproof vest standards, independent 
of NIJ or the Department of Justice. These standards will then be used 
as a basis for agencies within each state to purchase stabproof vests 
through the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant program and until NIJ 
makes good on their promise to complete a national standard.
  Finally, the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Act of 2000 would 
take extra precautions to ensure that those small agencies, which are 
often in most need of additional funding for bulletproof vests, would 
receive the entire grant for which they apply. As I noted earlier, many 
smaller agencies find themselves unable to purchase vests for their 
officers due to limited funding. The program, to date, has not 
fulfilled their expectations, because it has fallen short of giving 
many of these agencies a full grant. Therefore, S. 2413 includes a 
provision which ensures that smaller jurisdictions, with under 100,000 
residents, will receive all of the funding they request before money is 
allotted to larger jurisdictions. This is more of a safeguard than a 
limitation. Under statistics from the first two years of the program, 
less than $15 million would be needed to fully fund these small 
jurisdictions. Under a $50 million authorization, this would leave well 
over half of the funding to larger jurisdictions. However, with an 
expected increase in demand due to the new treatment of stabproof 
vests, it is vital that we ensure smaller communities that their police 
officers will be cared for. We must protect the Crown Point, Indiana, 
officer who unknowingly pulls over an armed drug dealer on U.S. Highway 
231 as much as the New York City officer involved in an orchestrated 
drug raid.
  Our legislation is intended to reauthorize a highly successful 
program which provides a partnership between the federal government and 
state and local law enforcement agencies in order to make sure that 
every police and corrections officer who needs a bulletproof vest gets 
one. It is clear to us that every officer on the street should have a 
vest, and that the need to supply officers with vests is important 
enough to warrant direct federal assistance. Furthermore, the 
overwhelming positive response we have received from law enforcement 
agencies and officers to this program highlights the continued need for 
the program.
  Mr. Speaker, at the heart of this effort is our desire to save the 
lives of police officers. When we make this commitment, we offer 
protection not just to the officers, but to every community in America. 
We prevent the suffering of families of fallen officers. We prevent the 
loss of leaders in our communities. Perhaps most importantly, we give 
those who protect us the ability to do their job better, more 
confidently, and with a knowledge that their entire nation is behind 
them every day, in even the most dangerous situations.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to stand up in support of our 
police and corrections officers, and vote for S. 2413.

                          ____________________