Bulletproof Vests Are Donated to Deputies
A nonprofit organization is making it safer on the streets for law enforcement.
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Council donated 500 bulletproof vests for all sheriff’s deputies and corrections officers. At $600 per vest, the total cost was $300,000. The donation comes at a time when county funds are tight.
“This stuff is not cheap,” bomb squad Sgt. Stan Mathiasen said. “Everything we have from them we would not have, or it would be very difficult to get through county funding sources.”
The nonprofit council, made up of local businesspeople and residents that include entertainer Dennis Miller and producer-director Ivan Reitman, was founded in 1993 by then-Sheriff Jim Thomas. The original fund-raising campaign collected enough money to buy a squad car that year.
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