1. External Vest Carriers
Examining the Advantages of This Progressive Uniform
The Vest Man

2. External Vest Carrier Advantages
Officers should be afforded every effort available to make them more COMFORTABLE while on the job. Embracing this concept eliminates much of the fatigue caused by summer heat.
Every day officers put on their duty belt which can weigh up to 30 pounds with a fully loaded belt. Which can be as much as one quarter of the weight of many female officers. This is not a natural place for the body to endure that much WEIGHT.
The number one injury reported by police officers nation-wide is LOWER BACK INJURY. This is almost always caused by two common practices: One is use of a duty belt to hold all of their needed items in the field. Next, is caused by sitting in a police car or station for up to 12 hours at a time with items such as handcuffs or pepper spray or a baton positioned in your back while seated.

3. Comfort
Allowing officers to wear external body armor will give the officer the opportunity to take his/her vest off when in the station or in a safe environment.
Officers are more comfortable while wearing an external vest carrier – and because of this fact, they WILL now wear their Kevlar more often – which leads to officers being safer while in the field.
External Carriers do not trap heat and keep it close to the body like Kevlar does when worn underneath a uniform shirt.
Officers in many areas have had issues with heat exhaustion, and external carriers all but ends this concern because of the added comfort value that the external carrier brings.

4. Weight Fully loaded duty belts can weight as much as 30 pounds
External carriers can reduce the weight off the belt by as much as 3/4 of that weight.
Custom external carriers can have pockets made for anything a duty belt can carry, including: Weapon, ammo, pepper spray, handcuffs, pens, baton, flashlight, gloves and mobile phones.

5. Lower Back Injury
STEWART L. SHANFIELD, M.D. former Chief of Surgery, Chief of Staff and Chairman of the Board of Trustees at St. Jude’s Hospital in Fullerton, has studied the negative effects of wearing heavy duty belts by officers. In addition to his mentioned positions he was also selected as the Orthopedic Physician of Excellence by the Orange County Medical Association in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008 and Dr. Shanfield wrote:
“The use of a load-bearing vest that transfers some of the items off the service belt to the vest carrier while distributing some of the weight to the officer’s shoulders and not solely concentrating the weight on the lower levels of the spine will help prevent this work related cumulative trauma in the lumbar spine for public safety officers.”
“Lower back injuries are a leading cause of both short-term and permanent disability in law enforcement. Needless to say, the loss of skilled personnel coupled with the impact of adverse quality of life issues is distressing. The cost to taxpayers in the form of workers compensation costs, lost work hours, mandated light-duty assignments and long-term disability costs are staggering. The introduction of the daily use of load-bearing vests would serve to dramatically decrease taxpayer costs associated with back injuries.”

6. Over–The–Uniform Matching External Vest Carriers
These carriers can be designed to look just like a uniform shirt from a few feet away and are very discreet looking.
This design only aides the officer by allowing the officer to be relieved of some of the heat endured by having the Kevlar under his or her uniform.
This design does nothing to promote lower back health.

7. Over–The–Uniform Matching External Vest Carriers

8. External Load Bearing Vest Carriers
This external carrier can also be designed to look a great deal like the uniform but shirt, but it also will have pockets installed to hold a number of items that have been traditionally placed on the duty belt.
Police administrators can design this vest exactly as they desire with limitations on pockets (i.e. no gun pockets on the vest carrier), exact embroidery, color, cloth badge or grommets for an officer’s metal badge, etc.
This design gives officers relief from the heat endured by wearing their Kevlar under their shirt while doing everything possible to reduce the potential lower back injury caused by a fully loaded duty belt.

9. External Load Bearing Vest Carriers

10. External Load Bearing Vest Carriers

11. Non-Uniform & Specialized Units
The Load Bearing Vest Carrier is ideal for Detectives. If a hot call occurs and a Detective wants to respond, he would have to put on his vest, put on a raid jacket and then find all his tools for the field, i.e. flashlight, gloves, additional ammo, etc. With a custom external carrier he only has to grab one item and it will carry all he needs while having sufficient identifiers on his vest.
K-9 Units, Narcotics, Vice, Gangs and Surveillance Teams will benefit from this Vest Carrier because it eliminates the need for a raid jacket while making it easier for the officer to carry the tools he needs for the field.
Motor Teams also have found advantages to working with a load bearing vest because they don’t have to struggle with the weight of a fully loaded duty belt while getting on and off a motorcycle.

12. Specialized Units

13. Range Master

14. Significant Cost Savings with Health Benefits
One Fully Loaded 100% Custom Designed External Vest Carrier made by
The Vest Man
$ $250.00*
*Includes five (5) year warranty. Price is determined by pocket and embroidery selections.
Duty Belt $
Belt Accessories $
1 year Chiropractic Care $4,300.00
Lower Back Surgery $27,000.00
Other Cost Factors to Consider:
First year of Officer Training
Disability Claims
Workmens Compensation Claims
Loss of Qualified Personnel VS

15. The Vest Man’s 100 % Custom Guarantee
Every vest is made exactly how each officer orders it. Left handers are accommodated, as well as tall, short, large and small officers.
We DO NOT have any sizes – each vest is personally crafted based on the officer’s existing Kevlar panels and body size.
Each vest is designed and hand crafted to fit the pockets each individual officer requests.
Each pocket is positioned EXACTLY where requested.*
* Unless there is an issue with safety, enough space, or functionality of the overall vest.

16. Simple Process The steps to getting a customized vest is are simple:
Outline your Ballistic Panels and Equipment
Take 3 simple measurements
Fill out order detail form
Include your cloth badge
Turnaround time will vary depending on how many orders are currently placed.
Avg. time is four weeks from the time we receive your order.

17. The Vest Man Offers a Warranty Unlike Any Other Maker and They Stand By Their Product! So Does:
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department
The Pasadena Police Department
The Redondo Beach Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department
The Chico Police Department
U.S. Marshals Service
The Stockton Police Department
U.S. Forest Service
The Concord Police Department
The Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Department
East Bay Regional Parks Police Department
Kentucky State Police Troopers
Manhattan Beach Police Department
Mesa, AZ Police Department
The Oceanside Police Department
Champaign, IL Police Department
The Las Vegas Police Department
Faribault, MN Police Department
The San Diego County Sheriff's Department
Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office – Idaho
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (Parole)
The Hawthorne Police Department
The Santa Monica Police Department
L.A. IMPACT Task Force
The Sacramento County Sheriff's Department
Kingsville, TX Police Department
The California Department of Motor Vehicles
The Orange County Sheriff's Department
The Kern County Sheriff's Department
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office