The Little Rock Police Department plans to spend $340,379.75 on enough riot gear to outfit about 500 of the department's approximately 550 officers with helmets, gas masks and shields.
The Little Rock Board of Directors is set to vote on an ordinance approving the purchase, which also includes protective gear for lower extremities, at Tuesday's 6 p.m. meeting in City Hall.
Forty-four Little Rock police officers, members of a special response unit, are already outfitted with protective gear. There were 551 sworn officers at the department when its latest recruiting class graduated in February.
City Manager Bruce Moore said the protective gear is standard issue in other police departments nationwide, and he was "really surprised" when he recently discovered most Little Rock police officers were not equipped with the gear. He said the protective gear would be standard issue "going forward."
"To be honest, I assumed we had the equipment already in place," Moore said. "It's really like an insurance policy. I pray that we never have to use it."
The purchase is being funded via $100,000 from the Police Department's seized asset fund, with the balance from the city's general fund.
The ordinance calls the purchase of the equipment an "immediate need" and dispenses with the competitive bid requirement. The sole-source ordinance calls for the city to contract with Little Rock-based Cruse Uniforms and Equipment, which typically supplies uniforms and equipment to the department, for the purchase.
Police Chief Kenton Buckner said the department doesn't have a delivery date on the equipment once purchased.
Buckner said the goal is to outfit every officer in the department. He said the department has learned through the all-out response of police in Baltimore recently that "a unit is not enough" to respond to mass demonstration and riot situations.
"I think we are taking a proactive approach to try to ensure that in the event we have something regrettable [occur] -- as we've seen in some of our communities around the country -- it's important that our officers are able to protect themselves," he said. "We can't protect life and property until we are able to protect ourselves. This is a proactive measure."
The ordinance notes that it's "essential to the public health, safety and welfare to assure that the Police Department is properly equipped in order to deal with the various situations that it might face, and that at present certain equipment is not available in sufficient numbers to meet this necessity."
"I want to really reiterate that this is not something that I hope we ever have to rely on, but I do believe that officers need to have the basic protective gear," Moore said. "Obviously, we had some, but we really need to make this a standard issue for the officers and it will be going forward."
Metro on 05/18/2015