Newsday, Inc.
Newsday (New York, NY)...09/19/2002
By James Bernstein. STAFF WRITER
The New York City Police Department has expanded its investigation of possible defects in body armor produced by a Long Island company to include as many as 5,000 bulletproof vests, and cops who are wearing them have been advised to get replacements, police and industry sources said yesterday.
Initially, police said they would have to replace only about 1,000 vests made by the company, Point Blank Body Armor Inc., an Oakland Park, Fla.-based subsidiary of DHB Industries Inc. of Carle Place.
A police spokesman said the department was not providing figures for how many vests are being examined. But a department source said the number is 5,000. Point Blank has provided the NYPD with about 20,000 vests worth $ 400 apiece since 1999.
City police began examining the vests earlier this summer after one officer noticed his vest seemed to have lost its resiliency after being wrinkled. Police officials said tests found that they didn’'t always stop bullets. In actual use, no one has been injured by a bullet while wearing one of the vests.
In a statement, city police said more tests are under way. “Out of an abundance of caution, the department is now identifying officers who may have been issued vests in question.
“Those officers are being advised to report to the police academy to obtain new vests or rotate vests with off-duty officers.”
Paul Donofrio, DHB’'s executive vice president of corporate development and finance, said yesterday the company fully stands behind the vests.
“The tests were invalid,” Donofrio said. “They (the vests) were subjected to inappropriate velocities.” He declined to elaborate.
Donofrio said DHB is negotiating with city police officials to resolve the dispute over testing methods and other issues. Donofrio said DHB provided the city police with 1,000 new vests to make certain the department would have enough of them for the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack.
Donofrio said DHB has had a “stellar” record with the NYPD and that the lives of two officers were saved in the last few years when bullets fired at them bounced off their vests.
But the controversy has hammered DHB’'s stock. The shares have lost more than one-third of their value since early September, when published reports first surfaced about the vests and labor problems at the Point Blank plant in Florida. DHB’'s stock closed yesterday at $ 1.80, up 11 cents.
The falling stock price has alarmed investors. Dennis Nielsen, who follows the company for Miller Johnson Steichen Kinnard in Minneapolis, said DHB has not done enough to shore up confidence in the vests.
“It’'s important for the company to take on the issue as quickly as possible so they don’'t injure relations with other customers,” Nielsen said.
In fact, DHB is already facing criticism from Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.), whose district includes the Point Blank plant. In an announcement yesterday, Hastings said there were “critical quality issues” with Point Blank vests used by the U.S. military. Hastings called upon the Pentagon to investigate DHB.
However, Norman Fanning, a Pentagon assistant product manager who oversees acquisitions of the vests, said in a recent interview that military troops have experienced no problems with them. Fanning said vests used by soldiers are entirely different than vests employed by police departments.