Press Release: August 1, 2008
Contact: Marshall Thielen, FCOP President
Ph. 571-216-4221
Fairfax County law enforcement officers issued defective body armor, new body armor contract called into question.
(Fairfax, Virginia) – For several years, Fairfax County had issued body armor to its law enforcement officers that contained Zylon® fiber, a product manufactured by the Tyobo Corporation.
Former Attorney General, John Ashcroft issued a body armor safety initiative on August 17, 2003 after Zylon® body armor failed in a shooting of a Forrest Hills, PA Police Officer resulting in his serious injury.
The National institute of Justice (NIJ) conducted exhaustive testing and reported in August of 2005 that Zylon® containing body armor degraded quickly upon usage and failed in over half of the tests. More than 90% showed back face deformations indicating deep bullet penetration and exceeded NIJ standards. Of the four models possibly issued to Fairfax County law enforcement officers, 3 failed NIJ testing. They varied in age from three months to two years. Body armor is certified to pass testing for five years.
On March 19th, 2007 the Fairfax Coalition of Police, IUPA Local 5000 brought this matter to the attention of Chief David Rohrer in a letter. He directed his staff to address the matter. Since then the Department has made an effort to replace all of its body armor that contains Zylon® material.
According to FCOP President Marshall Thielen, FCOP members don’t know whether any body armor containing Zylon® is still in use by its officers. Prior to 2007, Fairfax replaced its officer’s armor on a seven-year cycle despite the fact that the armor was only certified for a five-year life cycle. However, the agency has since revised the body armor replacement cycle to reflect the warranty period.
The Fairfax County Police Department is currently accepting bids for a new contract for body armor purchase. FCOP is concerned about the way the Request for Procurement (RFP) was written. Although some of their concerns where addressed by the Department, a request to review the document prior to its release was ignored.
The document, now in its final form, appears to attempt to limit competition from all body armor companies other than PT Armor. PT Armor is the same local company that sold the agency the defective body armor in the past. “In its draft form, the original RFP might have just as well stated nobody but PT Armor shall apply…” Thielen said.
When this matter was brought to the attention of the Department, Thielen was assured that the wording had been fixed to put time limits on alterations rather than to explicitly prohibit others from bidding on the contract. “We made some progress when we asked that our officers be allowed to chose between a threat level IIA vest currently issued, and a threat level IIIA vest which provides better protection, the agency did honor that request,” Thielen went on to say “I really thought we had learned a $3.2 million lesson from the Altaris CAD system back in 2002, but we appear not to have.” The Altaris CAD system is still in the process of being replaced after continual upgrades and repairs since it’s purchase.
According to Thielen, he Fairfax Coalition of Police normally enjoys an open dialogue with the police department senior management team. Although disagreements occur, it is rare for them to be as serious as this one. “We are talking about the safety of our officers and ensuring that they have the best safety equipment possible to protect them in these increasingly violent times. I know senior management wants the same thing. However the train came off the tracks on this one and we got sideways with each other.”
Thielen added, “We need a review of this RFP from an independent source” Thielen raised several questions, “Do other jurisdictions place such restrictions as to retail business or production facilities being located in the region? Do they require a physical facility as opposed to a representative being available to go to the police facilities? Do they require a three-day turnaround time for major alterations?
According to Thielen the county’s requirements did not seem to make financial sense. He suggested that with budgets being tightened the county should, “…act as good stewards of the tax payer’s dollars by encouraging businesses to aggressively compete for contracts to ensure that officers get the best possible safety equipment at the best price.” Thielen concluded, “Businesses are going to pass on expenses, failure to correctly answer the questions we raised may cost the citizens more in the long run without improving officer safety.”
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NOTE: Fairfax Coalition of Police (FCOP) is affiliated with the International Union of Police Associations (IUPA) and the AFL-CIO. The IUPA is the only labor union exclusively for law enforcement in the United States. FCOP is the largest law enforcement labor union in the Commonwealth of Virginia with over 900 members. FCOP is a leader in the advancement in pro police legislation in the Commonwealth with many legislative victories in the Virginia General Assembly. President Thielen is a 16-year veteran of the Fairfax County Police Department with assignments in patrol, gang investigations, canine, and firearms training. He is a senior instructor with the National Bloodhound Training Institute (NBTI) as well as a regional vice president for the IUPA.