Police Officers Not Required to Wear Bullet-Proof Vests

ST. PETERSBURG - Veteran St. Petersburg Police Officer David S. Crawford was not wearing his bullet proof vest on Monday night, when he was shot multiple times and killed while pursing a burglary suspect.

Police Chief Chuck Harmon said at a Tuesday afternoon press conference that the policy agency requires officers to carry bullet-proof vests with them, but it is voluntary to wear them.

Crawford was shot when he tried to apprehend a suspect near the 700 block of 3rd Avenue South. He was pronounced dead at Bayfront Medical Center.

The suspect is still at large and is the focus of an intense manhunt.

A 25-year veteran of the force, Crawford was described as a man of integrity who chose to work night shifts, often the duty of younger cops with less seniority.

“He was an honorable man, and he was a family man,” Harmon said at an afternoon press conference. Mayor Bill Foster described Crawford as a "man of peace."

Crawford leaves behind a wife, Donna, and a 24-year-old daughter, Amanda.

“You get in this job knowing that there is a risk,"  Harmon said at the Tuesday press conference. "We’ve had a terrible set of tragedies the past three weeks. We’re gonna look listen and learn to see what we can do better.”

Harmon did not say whether the issue of requiring officers to wear their bullet-proof vests will be discussed and reviewed.

Mark Marland, president of the Suncoast PBA, said none of the nine police agencies his organization represents in Pinellas County requires officers to wear bullet-proof safety vests. He said Tampa Police do not require it either.

"Some officers just don't want to wear them," Marland said. "They are bulky, and they are somewhat restrictive on movement."

Marland said that requiring officers to wear bullet-proof vests has not come up as an issue either in the police departments that Suncoast PBA represents.

He noted that the two St. Petersburg police officers who were shot and killed by a gunman  on Jan. 24 were both wearing their vests.

Officers Thomas Baitinger and Jeffrey Yaslowitze were killed by Hydra Lacy Jr., who was wanted on an outstanding warrant and hiding in the attic of a south St. Petersburg home.

"We've had three fatal shootings, and two officers had their vests on and one didn't," he said. "It may be that when your number is called, it is your time."

The Department of Justice recently adopted a mandatory-wear policy for any U.S. police department that receives federal money to purchase the gear through its Bullet Proof Vest Partnership.

The policy is effective for police agencies that apply for federal funds through the Bullet Proof Vest Partnership for fiscal 2011.

"This policy must be in place for at least all uniformed officers before any FY 2011 funding can be used by the agency," according to the Department of Justice website.

For fiscal 2010, St. Petersburg received $6,785.52 in federal money to buy bullet-proof vests through the program.