On November 26, 2011, Phoenix Police Department Officer Anthony Daley #9190, was shot and seriously wounded while on-duty. Although Officer Daley was wearing a ballistic vest, a .40 caliber round penetrated the full thickness of the Kevlar material approximately 3/8 of an inch (20mm) above the lower left front panel edge of the vest.
In response to concerns of a potential vest failure, the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association (PLEA) arranged for independent testing of a ballistic vest of the same brand, threat level, model number, lot number, and manufacture date as Officer Daley’s vest.
Officer Daley’s vest was identified as follows:
–Ā Ā Manufacturer: Custom Armor Technologies
– Threat Level: IIIA
– Model Number: QVA-3A-1
– Serial Number: 03005357
–Ā Ā Lot Numbers: 400010122119 and 1000076399
– Manufacture Date: May 12, 2008
In cooperation with the Phoenix Police Department, PLEA made arrangements with Oregon Ballistic Laboratories to conduct testing on a ballistic vest of the exact brand, threat level, model number, and lot number as the ballistic vest Officer Daley was wearing when he was shot. Upon hearing the circumstances and because of their concern for the safety of officers, Oregon Ballistic Laboratories agreed to conduct the test at no cost.
On February 16, 2012 Oregon Ballistic Laboratories conducted a test on the supplied ballistic vest using standard National Institute of Justice, NIJ, protocol with the following results:
–Ā Ā Using a 44 magnum, the NIJ standard for a level IIIA vest, at a distance of 16.5 feet, there was one complete penetration and the projectile was not recovered
–Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā In addition, there were two other .40 caliber rounds that failed the Back Face Deformation, BFD test maximum of 44mm. One was at 46.31mm and the other at 51.19mm. This relates to blunt force trauma injuries as a result of being shot where the round did not penetrate the vest.
According to a press release on Friday, DPS had stated at least 56 officers within the agency have body armor manufactured by Custom Armor Technologies.Ā AHPA is encouraging every officer to examine his or her body armor to determine if it is manufactured by Custom Armor Technologies.
We will be closely monitoring the situation and working with those members affected to replace their vest as quickly as possible.
