| TRENTON
– Attorney General Stuart Rabner today
announced that the Division of Criminal
Justice is distributing nearly $4 million
to more than 500 New Jersey law enforcement
agencies to purchase or replace life-saving
body armor vests for their officers.
A
total of $3,947,155 is being provided to
state, county and local law enforcement
and corrections agencies from the state’s
Body Armor Replacement Fund, which was established
by legislation in 1998 and is funded through
a $1 surcharge on traffic tickets and forfeitures
of bail. Grants were provided to all 547
agencies that applied for this annual round
of funding.
“This
represents the largest annual distribution
in the nine years that the Body Armor Replacement
Fund Program has been in place,” said
Attorney General Rabner. “We’re
glad that this fund enables us to provide
major funding year after year to protect
our police officers, because they risk their
lives day after day to protect and serve
the people of New Jersey.”
A
detailed list of the grants is attached
and is linked to this news release on the
Division of Criminal Justice Web site at
www.njdcj.org.
This
annual round of funding is in addition to
special grants totaling approximately $193,742
that were distributed by the Division of
Criminal Justice since October to 24 local
police departments to replace potentially
defective bullet-resistant vests. All eligible
agencies in New Jersey received notice prior
to that distribution that funds were available
to ensure that all agencies replaced any
vests containing Zylon® synthetic fiber,
as required by an Attorney General’s
directive issued earlier this year. Those
vests have been declared potentially unsafe
by the U.S. Department of Justice because
some have been found to degrade more quickly
than forecasted, reducing their ability
to stop a bullet or a knife. Requests received
to replace Zylon® vests were fully funded.
By accepting the awards announced today,
agencies are affirming that they either
have replaced or initiated actions to replace
all Zylon® vests by December 31, 2006.
“We’ve
made every effort to ensure that no officer
in New Jersey will be at risk because of
a defective vest,” said Criminal Justice
Director Gregory A. Paw. “Since safety
concerns were first raised about certain
vests in late 2003, staff members in the
Division of Criminal Justice have worked
diligently with our law enforcement partners
throughout the state to replace these vests.”
In addition to providing dedicated state
funding for replacement of Zylon® vests,
the Attorney General’s Office, through
the Division of Criminal Justice, has alerted
agencies in New Jersey about federal grants,
class actions, and vest exchange programs
and has worked with the National Association
of Attorneys General in legal actions to
get manufacturers to reimburse agencies
for defective vests or provide warranty
exchanges.
The
cost of body armor varies, but the minimum
grant amount is $500. The standard vest
issued to troopers by the State Police costs
$659.
Since
the inception of the Body Armor Replacement
Fund Program in 1998, the Division of Criminal
Justice - Grants & Program Development
Section has provided more than $30 million
to the New Jersey statewide law enforcement
community to purchase thousands of new vests.
The
following amounts have been distributed
in prior years:
- 1998
- $2,055,323
- 1999
- $3,296,390
- 2000
- $3,860,170
- 2001
- $3,690,778
- 2002
- $3,770,409
- 2003
- $3,755,622
- 2004
- $3,806,901
- 2005
- $3,698,166
>> List
of Grantees Awarded (83k pdf) plug-in
|
