|
Peter
C. Harvey, Attorney General |
Body
Armor Distribution List |
|
April 13, 2004
|
|
|
TRENTON - Attorney General Peter C. Harvey today announced that the Division of Criminal Justice has distributed more than $3.7 million to 537 New Jersey law enforcement agencies as part of the 2003/04 Body Armor Replacement Fund Program - a program dedicated to providing New Jersey police and law enforcement officers with funding to purchase or replace life-saving body armor vests. "In remembrance of the 15 New Jersey police and law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty over the past decade, I am pleased to join with the Division of Criminal Justice and the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police to announce the availability of $3.7 million in state grant monies to purchase the ‘gift of life' for hundreds of New Jersey police and law enforcement officers," said Attorney General Harvey. "I can think of no greater mission and no better expenditure of dollars than investing in new body armor and protective vests for the men and women who serve and protect New Jerseyans every single day." Mayor Joseph Vas welcomed the Attorney General and statewide law enforcement officials to Perth Amboy and Middlesex County to announce the distribution of this year's grant monies. Joining Attorney General Harvey to accept the presentation of a ceremonial State of New Jersey - Division of Criminal Justice check in the amount of $3, 755,262 was Dover Township Police Chief Michael Mastronardy, President of the New Jersey Association of Chiefs of Police, Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce J. Kaplan, Vaughn L. McKoy, Director, Division of Criminal Justice, Michael Kohut, Perth Amboy Police Director, and dozens of uniformed law enforcement officers from across the state. According to Criminal Justice Director McKoy, the state-funded Body Armor Replacement Fund Program is administered by the Division of Criminal Justice - Grants & Program Development Section which oversees the distribution of funds to police and law enforcement agencies seeking to purchase new and/or replacement body armor vests. Applications for funding were received from nearly all of New Jersey's 481 full-time police departments, 21 county prosecutor's and sheriff's offices, county police agencies, college campus police, State Police and related statewide police and law enforcement agencies. All New Jersey law enforcement agencies are eligible to apply for the funds. "The body armor vest is as essential to police work as the gun and badge. This fund has made vests available to protect our officers who come from every part of our State. I am proud to say thank you on behalf of the police chiefs, our officers and our families," said Chief Mastronardy. The 2003/04 Body Armor Replacement Fund program received applications from, and provided financial assistance to 547 law enforcement agencies, including municipal police departments, each of the 21 county prosecutor, sheriff and correction offices,' the Division of State Police, Division of Criminal Justice, Department of Corrections, county police departments and university/college police departments. A complete list of all New Jersey law enforcement agencies receiving funding from the Body Armor Replacement program is attached and is available via the Division of Criminal Justice web page at www.njdcj.org. "Each day, New Jersey's police officers don their uniforms and report to a job in which they may be called on to put their personal safety at risk to help others," Director McKoy said. "We want to make sure that each and every New Jersey police officer has a new, up-to-date body armor vest as part of their everyday uniform." Prosecutor Kaplan said, "In these times of economic difficulty, this grant has provided countless law enforcement agencies in New Jersey and Middlesex County with badly needed funds for the purchase of state-of-the-art body armor for their officers. During 2003-04, thirty Middlesex County law enforcement agencies alone were the beneficiary of grant funds totaling $186,000 for the purchase of new vests. The safety our officers and, consequently, that of the citizens they protect has been greatly enhanced by the availability of these funds." Since the inception of the Body Armor Replacement Fund Program in 1998, the Division of Criminal Justice - Grants & Program Development Section has provided nearly $20 million to the New Jersey statewide law enforcement community to purchase more than 13,000 new vests. The following amounts have been distributed: •
1998 - $2,055,323 Attorney General Harvey, in concert with the National Attorney General's Association and the U.S. Department of Justice, has provided detailed information to New Jersey's law enforcement agencies regarding safety issues involving zylon-based body armor vests. To date, the Division of Criminal Justice has provided a series of four separate reports and information advisory's to New Jersey's law enforcement agencies which, among other issues, recommends the replacement of any aged zylon-based body armor. Attorney General Harvey serves on the Body Armor Safety Committee established by the National Association of Attorney's General to study the issue. In 2002, 3,296 of New Jersey's 38,108 police and law enforcement officers were assaulted in the line of duty. Twenty-nine percent of the police officers assaulted in the line of duty sustained injury. Since 1981, body armor has saved the lives of 17 New Jersey law enforcement officers from death or serious injury as a result of shootings, assaults with deadly weapons and automobile accident. The Division of Criminal Justice has launched a website enabling law enforcement agencies to apply on-line for Body Armor Replacement Fund grant money. For more information on the Body Armor Replacement Fund Program log-on to http://www.nj.gov/lps/BodyArmor. # # # |
|
