Kentucky AG pledges $15 million to provide body armor for law enforcement

FRANKFORT, Ky. ( FOX 56 ) — Kentucky lawmakers are taking steps to better protect those who protect us, thanks to a new grant program through Attorney General Coleman’s office.

The “Body Armor Grant Program” promises to support local law enforcement and first responders with much-needed body armor and other gear.

“The purpose of that is basically for us to keep officers safe who are keeping our family safe,” said Richard Ferretti, the commissioner of the Attorney General’s Department of Criminal Investigation (DCI).

A statement released by the AG’s office included a statistic that showed about 20% of Kentucky law enforcement officers have either expired body armor or none at all, which leaves them with the financial burden of purchasing their own.

After being active for only a few days, the program is already proving to be a success.

“It’s going so well that agencies have applied today, and they’ve already received emails back from our body armor vendor for setting up dates for the officers to be measured,” Ferretti added.

This is a $15 million grant program that has been funded for two years.

According to the AG’s office, agencies that apply for soft body armor will take precedence, but Ferretti sees this grant program extending far beyond that.

“This is initially body armor to close that 20% gap that we spoke about initially. But once we get everybody covered, we’re going to look to make sure every officer gets extended protection… whether it’s shields, plates, anything that they feel that they need to protect themselves in the line of duty,” Ferretti said.

Solving the issue of a lack of protective equipment for law enforcement has been a long time coming, but this grant is helping to take steps toward a resolution.

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“It’s a budgetary issue,” Ferretti concluded. “I’ve had chiefs of police come to me and say, ‘Rich, I either have to choose between upgrading body armor or getting officers through the academy.’ So, we hope by just the fact that we can at least take the body armor off their hands, and that gives them more flexibility, and they can spend the money on training or other things that their officers and deputies need.”

Agencies interested in applying for the program can fill out the grant application on the Attorney General’s website.

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