The link has a two minute video with the chief defending his decision.

https://www.13abc.com/content/...ests--567635431.html

Toledo Police bans tactical vests for officers

By Alexis Means | Posted: Thu 6:48 PM, Feb 06, 2020 | Updated: Fri 6:09 AM, Feb 07, 2020

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - There are a number of tools police officers need to carry to fight crime on the street, and Toledo's top cop is addressing gripes about his new policy to ban a particular vest Toledo police officers used to wear.

Officers have been told they can no longer wear Molle tactical vests.
The order went into effect February 1.

"In my opinion, that looks too much like a military soldier," said Toledo Police Chief George Kral.

The chief is big on community policing. The past four police classes have been issued new bullet resistant vests.

Some officers don't like the new order. They claim the old vests helped to eliminate back and hip pain.

quote:

Originally posted by Sigmund:
Some officers don't like the new order. They claim the old vests helped to eliminate back and hip pain.

And external vests are significantly more comfortable, especially in hot weather.

I watch live PD sometimes, and judging how much crap they have to carry on belts it’s amazing theycan run at all. I can see how that would screw up your back after a time of lugging that around. Let them wear what makes their job easier , and save their backs.

I can understand the rationale behind this order--it is an attempt to make the police appear less "military", an image that many people oppose. As long as the officers are issued other adequate protective vests, I see no issue with this requirement. There are other ways to ease the pains they reported.

flashguy

not LE but I can understand the concern

perception = reality theory...

the other thing is -- do the vests get nasty / stained etc and eventually look uprofessional

i imagine LE wear clean shirts every shift

maybe the vests are not cleaned as regularly and start to look sloppy plus you get guys hanging all kinds of random crap off them...

-------------------------------

quote:

Originally posted by Sig209:
not LE but I can understand the concern

perception = reality theory...

the other thing is -- do the vests get nasty / stained etc and eventually look uprofessional

i imagine LE wear clean shirts every shift

maybe the vests are not cleaned as regularly and start to look sloppy plus you get guys hanging all kinds of random crap off them...

-------------------------------

Putting gear that is easier to access is a primary reason a molle vest is often used. I carry a lot of gear on my vest as opposed to my waist, since my back takes a beating in the car. This Chief doesn't wear street gear anyways, so he probably cares less about what his officers want. My guess is it's further pandering to the "Perpetually aggrieved" crowd.

quote:

Originally posted by flashguy:
I can understand the rationale behind this order--it is an attempt to make the police appear less "military", an image that many people oppose.

Toledo's vests aren't even "military style" MOLLE vests. They're uniform-shirt-style outer vests with a couple rows of lower webbing for pouches, to get some of the gear up off their belt:



Oooh... So scary.

When people stop shooting cops, cops will stop wearing scary vests.

^^^
Works for me.

quote:

Originally posted by nighthawk:
I watch live PD sometimes, and judging how much crap they have to carry on belts it’s amazing theycan run at all. I can see how that would screw up your back after a time of lugging that around. Let them wear what makes their job easier , and save their backs.

Back injuries and resulting early retirements are a real issue. Wearing all that gear on your waist takes a toll and I'd guess that easily more than half the officers I've worked with have back problems. Many of these officers get hurt dealing with suspects that decide to resist, but most seem to develop the problem over time. The savings in avoiding having to pay out injury related retirements would seem to make these a benefit well worth the "image" problems that few people complain about anyways.

The police chief sounds like a soy boy that needs to grow a pair.

Concur. If he (the chief) thinks those look "too military" he's clearly not been around the military much.

Unless you've lugged around 30+ pounds of required LE gear for a few years, you have no idea what it's like. There's only so much room on a gun belt. My agency wouldn't even allow us to wear cargo pants.

It took us road grunts years to convince the lounge lizards command staff to allow us to adopt semi automatic pistols. They carried revolvers and six extra rounds and thought that was good enough.

Political correctness.

A moron who needs to stand up to whatever other morons are objecting to the look.

Outside the shirt protective vests are very common these days, and becoming more so, and for good reasons. Most police in the UK, for example, are among the least-militarized imaginable and don’t even carry firearms, but they wear similar vests.

And finally, no, they don’t look military at all.

Having seen the vest, I rescind my comment. I don't see a "military" look to it. I do think it important that how it is worn and used (what is attached to it, and where) can be regulated.

flashguy

quote:

Originally posted by Sig209:

the other thing is -- do the vests get nasty / stained etc and eventually look uprofessional

i imagine LE wear clean shirts every shift

Bwahahaha absolutely...not

Lololololol

I get it. It’s about the intimidation factor. You need to be able to turn it on and off and that’s hard to do if your wearing it. You’re an actor playing many vastly different roles and your costume can an affect your ability to perform all of them, and props can’t save bad acting.

quote:

Originally posted by chongosuerte:

quote:

Originally posted by Sig209:

the other thing is -- do the vests get nasty / stained etc and eventually look uprofessional

i imagine LE wear clean shirts every shift

Bwahahaha absolutely...not

Clean undershirt daily.

Clean uniform shirt every 2-3ish days, unless it gets specifically nasty/dirty/sweaty. (I can usually go a full work week on 2 shirts, if it's quiet.)

The outer carrier for my external armor gets cleaned as needed. And the interior gets spritzed regularly with antibacterial anti-odor armor spray.


Back when I wore a concealed vest, the outer carrier was washed monthly during the winter and weekly/biweekly during the summer, with daily antibacterial spray. I had multiple carriers for that, for frequent swapping out. However, even with frequent laundering and spraying, the concealed vests got funky, since they're so much hotter and closer to your skin. The external vests don't get funky like that, even when you sweat in them, and they're noticeably cooler.

Who makes those vests? Should buy a bunch and hand them out to the officers.

Sounds like the chief is a bit out of touch with the ground force. Maybe he needs a few months at street level. Those vests look great and blend right into the uniform.