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TO: Mayor Richard C. Irvin
FROM: Lt. Bill Rowley, Aurora Police Department
DATE: January 29, 2025
SUBJECT:
A Resolution to approve the purchase of 31 MES United Shield Brand Ballistic Shields and accessories from MES/Lawmen Supply of Deer Creek, Illinois through the Sourcewell Cooperative Contract #090122-MES in an amount not to exceed $70,000.00.
PURPOSE:
To purchase replacement ballistic shields for the Aurora Police Department. These ballistic shields are essential for the protection of our first responding police officers and are being purchased to replace outdated and end-of-life shields, and also to equip newly added marked patrol cars with ballistic shields.
BACKGROUND:
The 2025 budget includes a decision package from the Aurora Police Department to replace ballistic shields over a multi-year phased replacement program. This decision package began in 2022 and is currently set to continue through the budget year 2026.
At the onset of our budget request in 2022, we determined that our current ballistic shields were either approaching or were at the end of their useful recommended life, and a replacement was warranted. Additionally, the recent addition of marked squad cars to our overall fleet allowance required that we also outfit these new squads with various equipment, including ballistic shields.
Our plan is to ensure that all police squads have a pistol-rated ballistic shield available, and all supervisor squads have a rifle-rated ballistic shield available for immediate use.
DISCUSSION:
During our assessment, we noted that ballistic shields used in our patrol division were approaching or have reached the end of their warrantied life. We have developed a multi-year plan to replace our aging supply on a rotation and have included in this plan the addition of ballistic shields to newly-added squad cars in our fleet. This request for purchase is part of that multi-year replacement program cycle.
We located MES/Lawmen Supply Company, who p...
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