EXTERNAL VEST CARRIERS the Advantages of the Progressive Uniform - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

EXTERNAL VEST CARRIERS

the Advantages of the Progressive Uniform

INTRODUCTION

Throughout the country traditional Police uniforms have included a heavy duty belt that contains the equipment Officers need to perform

• ut their daily tasks. This has contributed to both long and short term

injuries over the course of many Officer’s careers and into retirement. Within the last ten years many departments have transitioned to the use of external armor carriers to help prevent this issue. These “load bearing vests” represent an evolution in law enforcement equipment. The vests have become the ideal tool for helping to prevent work related injuries associated with the hip, back, and spine. They also

• ffer increased mobility, more efficient gear placement, and

increased capacity for Officers when performing their duties. Unlike duty-belts, where space for gear is limited by an Officer’s waist size, the vest is a one-size fits all solution.

EXTERNAL VEST CARRIER

 Each day officers put on their duty belt which can weigh up to 30 plus pounds when its fully loaded. This can equal much as one quarter of the weight of some female officers. The hips and lower back is not a natural place for the body to endure that much weight.  The number one injury reported by police officers nation-wide is a LOWER BACK INJURY. This is almost always caused by two common issues: One is use of a duty belt to hold all of their needed items in the field. Next, is caused by sitting in a police car or station for up to 12 hours at a time with items such as handcuffs or pepper spray positioned on your back while seated. Some officers may not have any alternative places to store these items due to a lack of space on their belt.

EXAMINING THE DUTY BELT

LOWER BACK INJURY

STEWART L. SHANFIELD, M.D. former Chief of Surgery, Chief of Staff and Chairman of the Board of Trustees at St. Jude’s Hospital in Fullerton, CA, has studied the negative effects of wearing heavy duty belts by officers. In addition to his mentioned positions he was also selected as the Orthopedic Physician of Excellence by the Orange County Medical Association in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2010.

• Dr. Shanfield wrote:

 “The use of a load-bearing vest that transfers some of the items off the service belt to the vest carrier while distributing some of the weight to the officer’s shoulders and not solely concentrating the weight on the lower levels of the spine will help prevent this work related cumulative trauma in the lumbar spine for public safety officers.”  “Lower back injuries are a leading cause of both short-term and permanent disability in law enforcement. Needless to say, the loss of skilled personnel coupled with the impact of adverse quality of life issues is distressing. The cost to taxpayers in the form of workers compensation costs, lost work hours, mandated light-duty assignments and long-term disability costs are staggering. The introduction of the daily use of load-bearing vests would serve to dramatically decrease taxpayer costs associated with back injuries.”

LOW BACK AND SCIATIC NERVE DAMAGE

BENEFITS

• Pain reduction, Injury prevention, gear access and capacity, increased

mobility and efficiency.

• Fully loaded duty belts can weight as much as 30 pounds. External

carriers can reduce the weight off the belt by as much as 75% , shifting it to the upper body which allows an Officer’s core muscles and shoulders to disperse and bare the load.

• External carriers can have pouches made for everything a duty belt can

carry, including: magazines, pepper spray, handcuffs, pens, flashlights, radios and tasers. This affords officers better access to their tools and removes the need to place items on their backside or to overload the front of a belt.

• Everybody has a nerve that runs up over the hip bone, over the front, that

controls the muscles in your upper leg in the front and a nerve down the back -- the sciatic nerve. The typical duty belt winds up supporting itself

• n exactly those four points on your waist: the two points on your hip bone

and on your lower back.

DISPERSING THE LOAD

SPECIALTY APPLICATIONS/BENEFITS

• MCU/TAC Detectives: All gear is centralized and readily available for

call-outs, warrant services, and/or exigent situations.

• Traffic: Lifting legs and hips with a fully loaded duty belt causes added

physical stress and discomfort

• Bicycle Patrol / CPT: Posture and physical efficiency improvements. A

flexible platform that can be used for plain clothes operations.

• K9: Required to carry extra gear, do a lot more running/traversing, and

need to have first aid for the K9 on-hand.

REGIONAL USE OF LBV’S

Valley Agencies:

• Renton PD
• Federal Way PD
• Des Moines PD
• Kent PD (bike patrol)

Local Agencies:

• Seattle PD
• KCSO
• Kirkland PD
• Redmond PD
• Bellevue PD
• Mill Creek PD
• Lakewood PD
• Portland PD
• Vancouver PD
• Snohomish County
• Lynwood PD

NATIONAL USE OF LBV’S

Los Angeles Police Department Chicago Police Department

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Pennsylvania Sheriff's Department Torrington, WY Police Department Nevada Highway Patrol DPS

Arizona Highway Patrol DPS

U.S. Marshals Service U.S. Forest Service Kentucky State Police Troopers Mesa, AZ Police Department Champaign, IL Police Department Faribault, MN Police Department Bradenton Beach, FL Police Department Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office The California Department of Corrections Kingsville, TX Police Department California Department of Motor Vehicles The Pasadena Police Department The Redondo Beach Police Department The Chico Police Department The Stockton Police Department The Concord Police Department East Bay Regional Parks Police Department Manhattan Beach Police Department The Oceanside Police Department

Las Vegas Police Department

San Diego County Sheriff's Department The Hawthorne Police Department The Santa Monica Police Department The Sacramento County Sheriff's Department Orange County Sheriff's Department The Kern County Sheriff's Department

QUESTIONS / COMMENTS