To me, the vests look practical, useful storage.
I don’t see the military angle. They might even be comfortable. Looks good to me.

Fact: my belt,vest,handcuffs,gun,ammo,baton,radio,spray,camera and taser weighed 28 pounds

Fact: vests remove weight from the belt and distribute it all over he Officer.

Fact: the vest is more comfortable for the officer

Fact: they are washable

Opinion: the Chief is a douche. Those vests are not militaryesque...that’s a uniform colored load bearing vest.

Side note, I worked 2 on 2 off with a sliding weekend...that uniform got worn for two days or three, under clothing changed daily. Only time the uniform was changed early was if it had smoke or dirt or decomp smell or blood....sure it sounds nasty but it is what it is...

My nephew is a SWAT Member and SWAT Sniper with the Toledo Police.

Going to text him to get the scoop and see how the cops are taking it.

I know it will not affect him as he does his job in full battle-rattle (armor everywhere).

This is insane.

Surprised I have not heard from him yet as we text all of the time about work. That entire city is getting as bad as Detroit and the stories he tells are scary AF.

I should be surprised that I heard it here first and not from the nephew... Knowing SIGForum, I am not surprised

Without looking at the actual vest I tended to agree with the chief.

Once I looked...
He's crazy....as someone already said, he obviously has never seen a .mil vest.

Pretty sure if he saw my "civilian" vest he would wet himself....

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

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.

Looking quite like RCMP officers or any number of European police forces.

Veeeeeeery scary.

quote:

Originally posted by Oat_Action_Man:
Looking quite like RCMP officers or any number of European police forces.

Veeeeeeery scary.

I was going to say, the oh so practical Euros....well, the northern Europeans, they all wear vests rather than weight-bearing duty belts! If the chief wants his cops to look like Officer Friendly, maybe changing the uniform color to light-blue or, khaki would be a better approach.

O_A_M, I had already retracted my comment once I had seen a photo of the vest.

flashguy

Yep, let's cater to these bed wetting crybabies who are worried about 'looks'. And those damn guns they carry are really scary, so we need to take them away too and leave the officers with mace. Mace should provide them all the protection they need and be far less 'scary'. Apparently many have still not learned that giving in to this human waste solves nothing as they will only continue to seek more.

Personally I'm sick to death of all this liberal shit flowing from the cesspool that is political correctness. Give the officers what they need to do the job, back them up when they need it, and tell all the liberal crybabies to go fornicate with themselves.

It is unfortunate that LEOs need to carry so much shit on them that they need load-bearing vests. I just got through watching some old Adam-12 episodes. All they carried on their persons were a revolver (in holsters that flopped around when they walked), a single reload and a nightstick.

All they had was a revolver and nightstick because that's all they thought they needed.

Anyone who resisted got repeatedly cracked in the head with a nightstick or blackjack until unconscious. "Hospital or jail... One way or another, you're coming with us" was the mindset.

And anyone who fled was shot with the revolver. It wasn't until 1985 that the Supreme Court ruled that you couldn't shoot someone just for running.



The pendulum may have swung too far in the opposite direction in a number of ways these days, but that doesn't mean it needs to go all the way back to how it was. The "good old days" weren't actually so good after all.

quote:

Unless you've lugged around 30+ pounds of required LE gear for a few years, you have no idea what it's like

This right here! Some days, I feel like a kid; other days, I feel my age! Vest, firearm, baton, spare mags, etc. can add on the pounds real quick!

Just out of curiosity, do these vests have built-in or pocket inserts for protective plates, or are they just for holding gear?

When we went to external carriers, the response from the public was very positive. Luckily our superiors that don’t see field work anymore don’t care. The external carrier is an absolute blessing over internal vests. On hot days you can slip it off and cool down quickly. You can leave the belt on and be back in action literally in seconds. Not so when you basically have to get completely dressed again.

This is a stupid decision in Toledo and my guess is that it stems from a certain segment of the population that has frequent run ins with the law.

quote:

Originally posted by 2BobTanner:
Just out of curiosity, do these vests have built-in or pocket inserts for protective plates, or are they just for holding gear?

They hold armor panels. It's an alternative to wearing the armor under your shirt.

function over form

I see scarier vests at the outdoor range.

If it is more comfortable for the officers, let them wear them.

My Grandfather was a Toledo Police Officer for 44 years and I think he would agree with me.

quote:

Originally posted by corsair:

quote:

Originally posted by Oat_Action_Man:
Looking quite like RCMP officers or any number of European police forces.

Veeeeeeery scary.

I was going to say, the oh so practical Euros....well, the northern Europeans, they all wear vests rather than weight-bearing duty belts! If the chief wants his cops to look like Officer Friendly, maybe changing the uniform color to light-blue or, khaki would be a better approach.

Where are the MP-5s? These are American Cops, so Thompsons would work better, maybe grease guns if weight is a concern. A few belts of 30 cal thrown over each shoulder would help. Maybe some graffiti on their flaks and pots too. And every officer should smoke a cigar, their entire shift.

I never wore an external load-bearing vest, just the familiar under-the-uniform conceable soft armor. My former agency has gone to those and the guys seem to like them, but I do have a question for those who use them-what happens at an active shooter incident? How does a plate carrier go over all the load carried on the soft armor vest?

I had a 5"x7" steel rifle plate in the pocket of the soft armor carrier, but at critical incidents we threw on the plate carriers that often rode on the passenger front seat.

I see some rocks in the water here for the guys with radios, Tasers, OC, trauma kits etc. up above their waist.

I don't disagree with the comfort statements, but I'm curious how you guys handle this.

Good. No matter how you wear all that stuff it will be uncomfortable after a 8 to 12 hour shift. I have worn it in both configurations and it is all uncomfortable. Some officers carry too much stuff they do not need for regular patrol work. Peace Officers need to look professional and not like a Tacticool 'Operator'. I like the statement the Chief made about some of the younger Officers who have never been told NO. Don't like your Chief? Find another department.

My external carrier doesn't have any protruding pouches, just some flat slash pockets that I use to hold some pens, a spare flashlight, spare set of cuffs, and a TQ. So my plate carrier dons directly over it. Or, if i wanted to, I could put hard plates directly inside my external carrier, since it has slots for 10x12 plates.



However, I see what you're saying about carriers like Toledo's. The external pouches and especially Tasers would definitely seem to interfere with a plate carrier.