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Two Colorado deputies were killed while wearing body armor

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Two Colorado deputies were killed while wearing body armor



Two Colorado sheriff’s deputies died in separate shootings since Dec. 31 even though they were wearing body armor, prompting questions about whether the area’s law enforcement officers have enough protection from the powerful ammunition they face on the streets.To get more news about camouflage bulletproof vest, you can visit bulletproofboxs.com official website.

It’s a question that law enforcement agencies are asking themselves, too. The average ballistic vest issued to cops on the street is not strong enough to stop rounds fired by assault rifles.
“Those rounds are so high velocity, they go right through those vests,” said Westminster Police Department Cmdr. Gene Boespflug. “If it’s a solid-nosed bullet, it goes through a quarter inch of steel like butter.”

Even the strongest ballistic material is not fail-safe, experts said, because bullets can find their way into vulnerable places. Still, police deserve the best protection available to them, experts said.

“Every now and then, the devil will have his due,” said Dan Montgomery, a Colorado-based law enforcement consultant. “They’re certainly better than nothing, but they’re not an end-all.”

In Boulder County, Sheriff Joe Pelle has asked his staff to research the best equipment available and write a proposal for purchasing ballistic plates that deputies can use to strengthen the body armor they already wear, said Cmdr. Jason Oehlkers, who is leading the project.

Pelle’s son, Douglas County sheriff’s Deputy Jeff Pelle, was seriously wounded in the New Year’s Eve shooting that killed Deputy Zack Parrish and wounded six other people. Jeff Pelle was struck by bullets fired from high-powered rifles that pierced the vest he was wearing.

But his injuries weren’t the sole motivation for the sheriff to beef up protection for Boulder County deputies, Oehlkers said. A couple of local incidents, including a recent attempt to serve a warrant to a man armed with multiple rifles, have concerned the sheriff, Oehlkers said.

In the past year, at least two Front Range police departments — Aurora and Castle Rock — have provided their street cops with ballistic vests and helmets designed to stop high-powered rifles.

“We think it’s important to give our officers the best equipment possible,” said Castle Rock Police Chief Jack Cauley. “We felt it was another layer of protection that was important for our officers to have. You never know where you’re going to encounter it.”

At other agencies, police officers and sheriff’s deputies are spending their own money to buy ballistic helmets and vests that can better protect them from high-velocity ammunition such as the .223-caliber bullets fired from AR-15s and other high-powered, semi-automatic weapons.In the Douglas and Adams counties shootings, it is not known exactly what type of body armor Parrish and Deputy Heath Gumm were wearing. Parrish’s shooter fired an M-16, an M-4, a shotgun and a 9mm at officers during the encounter, although no autopsy or ballistic reports have been issued to show exactly which were fired at Parrish. Gumm’s shooter fired a .45-caliber handgun, according to an Adams County Sheriff’s Officer arrest affidavit.

Neither Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock nor Adams County Sheriff Mike McIntosh has responded to questions about the type of body armor their deputies were wearing and what was available to them.

On the national level, mass shootings such as those at the Route 91 Harvest music festival in Las Vegas in October, at the Orlando Pulse nightclub in 2016 and in Dallas, where five police officers were killed in 2016 by a man firing an assault rifle, have underscored the dangers police face when they encounter a suspect with a high-power weapon.
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