New vests

Friday, October 25, 2019

Red Willow County Chief Deputy Joe Koetter tries on one of the five new body armor vests purchased by the sheriff's department with funds from the sheriff's 2019-2020 budget. Each vest is custom-measured for each officer and includes soft body armor and two polyethylene ballistic panels/plates (front and back), which are designed to stop a shot from a rifle. The ballistic panels weigh seven pounds each; the panels and the vest weigh close to 15 pounds. However, deputies also hang equipment such as their ammunition, handcuffs, radio, cell phone and tazer from their vests. Sheriff Alan Kotschwar said he has required his deputies to routinely wear protective vests since an incident in 2014 when he (then chief deputy) and Koetter and another deputy walked into what Kotschwar described as an ambush situation. These new vests replace vests that the sheriff and his deputies have worn since that incident. "I feel better with my deputies in body armor," Sheriff Kotschwar said. Also wearing new vests are deputies Gerry Hunter, Justin Dice and Dalton Downing.

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