Iraqi Police to Put Old Bulletproof Vests to Use

Bulletproof vests and other equipment once worn by law enforcement officers on the streets of Orange County are now headed to Iraq to be used by Iraqi police, who often lack safety gear.

More than 740 vests were donated Wednesday by Orange County police chiefs and sheriff’s officials, who say the vests -- which have outlived their usefulness here -- can still be of service to the Iraqis.

The surplus equipment included batons, holsters, pepper spray and Kevlar helmets that otherwise would be thrown away or destroyed. Law enforcement agencies cut bulletproof vests into pieces to prevent them from ending up in the hands of criminals.

Giving equipment to Iraqi police saves local departments thousands of dollars in disposal expenses and saves the fledgling police force in Iraq from buying items.

“It’s nothing more than one officer helping the other, wherever they are,” said Fresno Police Det. Michael Harris, who helped start the program and was in Santa Ana to oversee the transfer of the donations to the military, which will take the equipment to Iraq. “We’re just doing it around the world.”

The project, dubbed Operation Brotherhood of the Badge, began after a Fresno police officer serving in Iraq told Harris in October that Iraqi officers were poorly equipped and lacked even basic safety gear.

Harris knew that his department rotated 150 bulletproof vests out of service every year. A new vest costs about $1,000 and is typically used for five years before the manufacturer’s warranty expires.

“The easy conclusion to come up with was that we can help these people,” Harris said. He called around to other law enforcement agencies who said that they, too, had equipment collecting dust.

After the U.S. Marine Corps agreed to squeeze the donated equipment onto their cargo vessels, Harris and fellow Fresno Officer Brian Burry accompanied the first delivery to Iraq in February.

“They had no leather, no flashlights, no batons,” Burry said. Hoping to keep a low profile as their armored caravan rolled into the city of Baqubah, they packed the equipment into cardboard boxes labeled lettuce.

Once at the station, the Iraqis immediately tried on the vests. Their police chief, however, had to sign an acknowledgment that Iraqi officers could not sue the Americans should the equipment fail.

Burry also gave 180 radios, batteries and chargers to a station that had just eight radios for 400 officers.

“When they saw the radios and realized that now they could communicate with each other,” he recalled, “it was like a relief to them.”

Officials say the Fresno-based program appears to be the first successful operation of its kind, providing much-needed equipment to an Iraqi police force whose officers are often outmatched by insurgents.

To date, 40 California law enforcement agencies have donated to the cause, with Orange County being the largest participant.

Burry said the Los Angeles Police Department is reviewing legal disclaimers that Iraqi officials have signed but have not committed to donating to the program.

On Wednesday, Santa Ana Police Chief Paul M. Walters said Burry, a former Santa Ana officer and high school friend of the chief, had reached out to him in March. Walters floated the idea at a meeting last month with chiefs and sheriff’s officials. Nearly everyone had some kind of equipment in a storeroom.

“This is all surplus gear that would just be destroyed,” Walters said. “Even though it’s outlived its usefulness here, it’s still useful there because they don’t have anything.”

The vests and helmets will mainly protect officers from handgun fire and shrapnel.

“Vests won’t stop high-powered rifles,” Walters said, adding that no vest used by California police could withstand rifle fire.

Parked outside the Santa Ana Police Department on Wednesday were two large military trucks, their cargo beds filled with boxes of donations encased in plastic wrapping.

Marines stood by, ready to drive the trucks to Camp Pendleton, where the boxes will be loaded onto transport vessels.

This latest batch of equipment from Orange County is headed for an Iraqi police training center run by the Marine Corps. A Marine Corps spokesman said the shipment should reach Iraq by the end of August.