Senate approves Gary Peters’ bill to provide better body armor for female DHS employees
Bullets have been shown to penetrate armor currently used by female agents of the Department of Homeland Security.
The U.S. Senate approved a bipartisan bill sponsored by Michigan Democratic Sen. Gary Peters to ensure that the body armor provided to female Department of Homeland Security employees actually protects them. The proposal passed by unanimous consent on Dec. 2.
Peters, the chair of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, introduced the DHS Better Ballistic Body Armor Act in May with Alabama Republican Sen. Katie Britt as its original co-sponsor. A press release issued by his office noted that ballistaic testing done by the FBI in 2022 had found “the commonly used body armor, when tested on a female and certain male molds, was vulnerable to a bullet, or other projectile, ricocheting off the top center of the front armor panel and into the throat area, which could kill an officer.”
While improved options have been created, they are not currently provided to DHS officers. If the bill is approved by the House of Representatives and signed by President Joe Biden, it will authorize the secretary of DHS to purchase body armor that conforms to women’s bodies and require that all agents and officers whose jobs require such protection have appropriate equipment within three years of the bill’s enactment.
“Law enforcement officers deserve protective body armor that keeps them as safe as they keep us. My bill will ensure that all officers, regardless of gender or body type, will have access to the most advanced and effective safety equipment,” Peters said in a Dec. 4 statement.
The legislation has been endorsed by Women in Federal Law Enforcement, Inc., a nonprofit group focused on gender equity and inclusiveness in federal law enforcement operations.
According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, about a third of the more than 170,000 permanent DHS employees are women.
About 4,376 total DHS employees are stationed in the state of Michigan.
If the Republican-led House does not pass the bill by the end of the current Congress, it will have to be reintroduced and go through the Senate again in 2025.
