Sacramento police to spend $600,000 on rifle-resistant armor

By Lysée Mitri

Click here for updates on this story

    SACRAMENTO (KCRA) — The Sacramento Police Department plans to spend $600,000 on equipment for its officers meant to protect against rifles.

“I think it’s just really important to give the best protection we can to our police officers,” Chief Kathy Lester said.

She showed an example of the composite plate that can slide into the front and back pocket of an officer’s bulletproof vest, an 8×10 composite plate, about a half-inch thick and lighter than some older gear.

Lester said the vests Sacramento police officers currently wear don’t protect them from rifle rounds.

She gave a presentation to the Sacramento City Council on Wednesday, asking council members to approve the purchase. The money is in the police department’s budget, but purchases of $250,000 or more require council approval.

Councilmember Katie Valenzuela said a lot of the discussion centered around where the products were being procured from, which is an organization based in Texas. She also had questions and concerns about the organization.

“The state has a practice around travel and procurement to avoid states that are doing things that might harm our LGBTQ community or other communities that we value here in the city of Sacramento,” Valenzuela said. “We don’t have a policy yet in the city of Sacramento. So, this purchase last night was through a cooperative that is managed by the Texas Association of School Boards, so I wanted to have a conversation about whether or not that was the best procurement option for us.”

KCRA asked the police department why it chose the vendor it did.

“We use the city procurement process,” Lester said. “We use a cooperative purchasing agreement, and this is very common to where you use this purchasing agreement so that you can find the best possible price. We’re a little limited because our vests are very specific, and there’s certain vendors that supply these plates.”

Valenzuela abstained during the vote, but the city council did approve the police department’s purchase.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.