By James Mayse
Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.
DAVIESS COUNTY, Ky. — The Daviess County Detention Center is purchasing new ballistic vests, particularly for deputies to wear while transporting inmates, with a grant from state Office of Homeland Security.
Last week, deputies were being measured for the flexible ballistic vests, which are made of Twaron, a synthetic fiber. The 60 vests are being purchased with a $34,500 grant from the Office of Homeland Security’s Law Enforcement Protection Program.
The body armor “will stop most of your popular handguns,” said Matt Baumeyer, owner of Siegel’s Uniforms, the Evansville firm that was awarded the bid to provide the vests.
Jailer Art Maglinger said the jail applied for the grant in February, 2020, just before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. As with many things, the pandemic slowed the jail being approved for the grant.
“It has been a two-year process with the grant,” Maglinger said.
Currently, the jail is using used ballistic vests it received from the Sarasota, Florida and Carbondale, Illinois police departments.
“They aren’t really ideal, because they aren’t fitted,” Maglinger said of the surplus vests. “But something is better than nothing.”
The grant is enough to purchase 60 vests for deputy jailers.
Deputies won’t be required to wear the vests while at the jail. Instead, the vests will be mandatory when deputies transport inmates to court or to or from other facilities.
“Some deputies do wear them (at the jail), but the main thing is for transports,” Maglinger said. “We do 600 transports a year.” With society more open than it was in 2020, “we are back to transporting almost daily,” Maglinger said.
“Some of the guys we transport are considered a flight risk. We just want to give our deputies as much protection as possible,” Maglinger said. The vests “definitely will be required when (deputies) leave the facility for transports.”
The grant pays for 100% of the cost of the vests.
“I know Sgt. Keith Stiff really deserved some of the credit” for securing the grant, Maglinger said. “He started work in January of 2020.
“We’re thankful for the grant,” Maglinger said.
(c)2022 the Messenger-Inquirer (Owensboro, Ky.)