There are many instances in which firefighters/EMS may need ballistic protection. Retired Cleveland firefighter Bob Kollar shares several situations that you may or may not think about often.
Speaker: Bob Kollar
When we were looking for armor protection for the City of Cleveland, we were looking at when would we need it. The RNC was coming up and we knew we had a lot of potential that we would need it.
Other times, we were trying to look at different times of when we would need it. We had to put together an SOP of when and why we need it and that also would help us with the procurement of it. We could show our chief. The chief could show the safety director or the mayor. These are things that we go to all the time where that ballistic protection could be useful for us.
Some of those examples—and we’ll put up on the website for you—like an SOP outline where you can go through and more or less put your city’s name into it, and this is what you’ll wear, why you’ll wear it and when you’ll wear it.
Obviously, you’re going to when it’s an active shooter situation, but then you turn around and you go to suicide attempts, domestic violence, fights. You know, you go to a fight at a bar. What’s the chances of somebody having a gun or a knife anymore? Those things are out there and they’re real in today’s environment.
Bob Kollar - Lieutenant Cleveland Fire Department (Retired)
