Marin’s Sheriff’s Department is ordering
63 new bulletproof vests to replace vests built with a material that
may break down earlier than expected under certain conditions.
The material, Zylon, has become a concern of law-enforcement
agencies nationwide, including the Secret Service. Even bulletproof
vests worn by the president and first lady have become suspect.
County supervisors last week approved $36,317 for
the purchase of new Safariland bulletproof vests from San Jose-based
LC Action Police Supply.
Zylon, a lightweight, bullet-resistant fiber, has
been used in body armor since the 1990s. Vests currently worn by sheriff’s
deputies, including those in West Marin, are made with the material.
One of the major American distributors of vests using
the fiber, Michigan-based Second Chance Body Armor, may have been been
alerted that there were problems with Zylon as early as 1998 by the
material’s Japanese manufacturer Toyobo Co., according to a report
by the Associated Press.
Tests found that Zylon can break down faster than
expected from heat, light, and moisture exposure, potentially allowing
bullets to penetrate vests made with the material.
Press organizations have gained access to memos showing
that by the end of 2001 Second Chance was being urged by its research
chief to withdraw the vests from the market.
Nationwide problems
But Second Chance did not alert its customers of
the doubts raised about Zylon until 2003, after a police officer in
Southern California was shot to death wearing one of the company’s
vests and a Pennsylvania police officer was severely wounded.
The Justice Department is now investigating whether
Second Chance sold defective vests to Secret Service agents, President
George W. Bush, and first lady Laura Bush.
Zylon-based vests used by Marin County sheriff’s
deputies are manufactured not by Second Chance but by Point Blank Body
Armor, a company with no connection to the Justice Department investigation.
Captain Mike Ridgway, administrative and support services
bureau commander for the county sheriff’s department, said that
the department learned that the vests should be replaced on Sept. 8.
Before that, he said, the sheriff’s department
had been aware for three to four months that some manufacturers of body
armor containing Zylon were recalling their bulletproof vests. During
that time, Ridgway added, the department called its body armor vendor
"three or four times" to ask whether the vests should be replaced,
but was assured that the vests were safe.
"We were proactively reaching out to make sure
that the vests that we had were not affected," Ridgway said.
Manufacturer ‘confident’ in old
body armor
Even now, Ridgway added, "the manufacturer is
very confident in the integrity of the vest itself." Ridgway noted
that none of the bulletproof vests used by sheriff’s deputies are
more than three years old (Zylon supposedly degrades with protracted
use), and that bulletproof vests in temperate Marin County are less
likely to endure the extreme conditions of temperature and humidity
under which Zylon breaks down.
"The manufacturer believes [the vests’]
integrity is not in question," Ridgway said. "But obviously
we’re not going to take that chance."
Dawn Schlegel, Chief Financial Officer for DHB Industries,
of which Point Blank is a subsidiary, noted that no injuries attributable
to Point Blank vests containing Zylon have been reported.
Nevertheless, Schlegel told The Light, her
company recommended the vests be replaced after the National Institute
of Justice in August identified Zylon as a potentially unsafe material.
In a staff report to the board of supervisors dated
Oct. 11, the county’s supervising purchaser stated that on Aug.
24 the National Institute of Justice "identified poly-p-phenylene
benzobisoxazole (commonly known as PBO or Zylon) as a material that
appears to create a risk of death or serious injury as a result of degraded
ballistic performance when used in body armor."
The institute revoked its safety certification for
Zylon-based body armor on Sept. 26.
Information shared with deputies
All information on the vests containing Zylon received
by the department was shared with deputies through the Deputy Sheriffs’
Association, Ridgway said.
Undersheriff Dennis Finnegan told The Light
that there are "no known problems with the vests [deputies] are
currently using."
Sheriff’s Lieutenant Scott Anderson said that
the department "was real good at keeping everyone involved"
as the problems with Zylon came to light.
"Everybody is aware of it," Anderson said.
Bullets over bovines
Anderson said that in the past 20 years he knew of
only one sheriff’s deputy in the county who had been hit by gunfire,
although there have been "a number of incidents" over that
period when shots were fired at deputies.
The relative scarcity of gunplay in the county doesn’t
diminish the importance of body armor, Anderson added.
"It only takes one [bullet]," he said. "Whether
we haven’t had a shooting in ten years, or whether we have them
every other day, I think it’s always important to have [a bulletproof
vest] and be wearing one."
The $36,317 expenditure approved by supervisors last
week will be offset by $16,000 from the Justice Department’s Ballistic
Vest Partnership Grants program, Ridgway said.
The new vests ordered for sheriff’s deputies
contain no Zylon. "No one is selling anything with Zylon in it
anymore," Ridgway said.
The order for the vests is now being processed through
the county purchasing office. Once the order is placed, Ridgway said,
the new vests should arrive within 90 days.