Not Just About External Vests
Everything has pros and cons, and uniform police gear is no exception. The reason the external vest for routine uniform patrol is currently trending is it keeps radio, spare pistol mags, perhaps expandable baton and handcuffs and TASER and pepper spray and even an AR15 magazine readily accessible at the front of the torso, taking the weight off the hips. The constant wear of a 15- to 20-lb. duty belt instead of a vest that distributes the weight across the upper body is one reason why lower back issues have historically been an occupational hazard of uniformed police work. But all of these, plus included body armor, significantly increases torso girth.
I’ve been teaching weak hand draw from strong side holsters since first becoming a police firearms instructor in 1972. There are some individuals who simply can’t accomplish it. The more stuff that’s between the reaching hand and the gun, the less range of movement there is to make the draw. Snatch-resistant security holsters make it harder for the bad guy to draw the good guy’s gun, but also harder for the good guy to get it out of the holster and on target.
It ain’t just the external vest. A concealed ballistic vest creates the same effect. So does obesity. Make all the doughnut jokes you want, but constantly sitting behind the wheel of a patrol car with your 8-to-10-hour shift punctuated by sudden bursts of extreme physical exertion is not the best route to physical fitness.
Today’s police departments emphasize fitness, but that has its own impact. The larger your biceps, shoulders and pecs become, the more range of movement you lose in terms of upper limbs reaching across the torso. Those of us who resemble the “before” picture instead of the “after” image in the Charles Atlas bodybuilding ads enviously use the term “musclebound.”
And all of those elements are true of off-duty cops, plainclothes officers and ordinary armed citizens. So, what to do?