The Dalton Agency, on behalf of TenCate Advanced Armor, has started up the Plate Up, America! initiative. Plate Up, America! is an effort to raise awareness for the use of hard body-armor with Law Enforcement. The initiative targets LEOs and their families, with the goal of having them add their voices to the effort of making funding available for agencies to purchase hard body armor.
Plate Up, America! has its own website, in addition to efforts through social-media channels including Facebook and Twitter, through which they communicate statistics-based facts found on Government research websites such as those of the FBI and U.S. Bureau of Justice.
Although this effort is spearheaded by TenCate Advanced Armor, a commercial, for-profit entity, the hope is for more body armor companies to join in the effort. They are also making active efforts in demonstrating that the main goal of Plate Up, America! is to protect officers from violent criminals, and not the disarming of responsible citizens.
www.plateupamerica.com
www.facebook.com/PlateUpAmerica
twitter.com/plateupamerica
Tags: Plate Up America, TenCate
This is interesting. I wonder how much it help. As far I know the only people issued hard armor are swat guys and some narcotics units are lucky enough to their hands on it from time to time. Everyone else that has it, has bought their own. They keep harping on the single and double officer response to active shooters with rifles but agencies still can’t convince their city councils that shotguns are not a good choice in crowded buildings. Then you have the current clown in chief saying they need softer uniforms. What to do…
Serious question … Are they going to develop, market a visually softer plate carrier? How can officers don rifle rated armor without presenting a militarized appearance?
It’s a great time to be alive with the proliferation of plate carriers and other gear! There are hoards of lower profile plate carriers on the market. In fact, too many to list quickly from my phone. I have an SKD Brigadine carrier with a slick front that I can set up how I like thanks to being covered in killer strong loop material and some laser cut slots that accept G-Hooks. I’ve had Eagle, Mayflower and HSGI but they were all scalable/MOLLE carriers and this one is lighter, simpler and way better fitting because the material is basically just covering the plates with no extra hanging around.
I’m pretty sure most plate carrier companies are or will be making “lower vis” carriers like this. They don’t have to cost a fortune, either. I think my front and back panels along with a quad AR mag carrier, back cushions and hydration carrier were under $250, maybe less.
Next I’m going to add some Dyneema plates as the two together plus my stripped carrier weigh less than my current front plate.
Patrol officers shouldn’t be wearing plates without a specific reason to. If that reason exists, does appearance still matter?
For SWAT or specialized anti-robbery units or such, plates are one thing. For patrol or detectives, responding to an active killer or gun call, I don’t know. We preach speed, and getting a plate carrier on will pretty much require having all the kit mounted to it, and still be slower than grabbing a bag, bandolier or some chest rigs. I’m not certain I want to take the time, and would rather focus on speed, surprise and good tactics, plus the fact that in a lot of active killer instances the perp either surrenders on contact, or more often self-adjudicates themselves into harmlessness as soon as they know you are there.