WHEREAS, soft body armor is available to law enforcement personnel to protect against life threatening or potentially disabling injuries; and

WHEREAS, currently, two American police officers are feloniously shot every twenty-four hours, and statistics have shown that since 1987, more than 2,325 law enforcement officers have survived life threatening injuries because they were protected by their body armor; and

WHEREAS, studies of all previous incidents in the past sixteen years where law enforcement officers were fatally shot indicate that 42% of those officer deaths were preventable if they had been wearing body armor; and

WHEREAS, existing statistics confirm that a law enforcement officer is fourteen times more likely to survive a ballistic firefight if he/she is wearing a protective vest than not wearing one; and

WHEREAS, based on studies that even when available, soft body armor is only being worn by 15-20% of the officers who have been issued the equipment, due to mixed messages from management concerning their department's policies on mandatory wear; and

WHEREAS, the International Association of Chiefs of Police recognizes the responsibilities of law enforcement executives to do all that is possible to protect on-duty field and investigative personnel, now therefore be it

RESOLVED, that the International Association of Chiefs of Police recommends that all police executives communicate the importance of wearing body armor and that all law enforcement agencies take the following steps:

• Obtain proper fitting body armor for all law enforcement officers of their agency.
• Establish an ongoing program to educate all members about their obligation to protect themselves, as well as the "life and death" advantages of the routine wear of body armor.
• Adopt a wear policy for all on-duty field and investigative personnel.
• Conduct periodical inspections of issued soft body armor to ensure proper fit and useable condition, replacing defective armor as needed.