More suspects use bulletproof vests

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A city police lieutenant on patrol in January heard a single shot in the Mont Pleasant neighborhood and quickly zeroed in on three teens.

Two of the teens were found with guns, the third with a bulletproof vest, police said then.

It marked the first of two times this year that police have encountered the protective vests. In February, police found another in a drug raid. No one was wearing it and no charges were filed.

Fortunately for police and the public, neither case involved gunfire, but officials say the implications are clear.

“It’s showing us they’re expecting to be shot at, if they’re wearing a vest,” Schenectady Police Department spokesman Sgt. Eric Clifford said last week.

“It certainly makes it that much more dangerous for us,” Clifford said, “and for anybody attempting to defend themselves, whether it’s a homeowner who’s defending his home from a home invasion or a police officer attempting to protect somebody in public.”

Federal law prohibits those convicted of violent felonies from owning or possessing bulletproof vests. In New York, it is illegal to wear a body vest while committing a violent felony and possessing a firearm, rifle or shotgun.

And the danger of such vests in the wrong hands showed clearly twice this past week.

In Pittsburgh, Richard Poplawski wore a vest as he exchanged shots with officers there on April 4. Three officers were killed. Poplawski was wounded in the legs before surrendering.

In Binghamton, Jiverly Wong wore a vest as he fired 98 times inside an immigration center, killing 13 people on April 3. Authorities believe he wore the vest preparing for his own firefight but killed himself as police arrived.

Had he survived to face prosecution, Wong would have faced the charge of unlawfully wearing a body vest, along with 13 counts of murder.

LITTLE DETERRENT

Some officials acknowledge that New York’s body armor charge has little deterrent effect.

To be convicted on the state charge, a suspect would also have to be convicted of a violent felony and face sentences from life for first-degree murder down to 2 to 7 years for the lowest-level incidents. Illegally wearing body armor could mean a consecutive sentence of 16 months to four years.

Schenectady County District Attorney Robert Carney said he didn’t think the added charge has much impact. Carney suggested the law could be broadened to include all crimes, misdemeanor or felony, with the level of the vest charge relating to the level of the corresponding crime.

“They’re almost inviting violence, saying, ‘I can meet it,’ ” Carney said. “ ‘I can hurt you more than you can hurt me.’ ”

“I don’t know why it’s OK to wear a bulletproof vest while committing a crime [except when] it’s a violent crime,” Carney added.

In the January Schenectady case, Markese Jones, 18, of Stanley Street, was charged initially with second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and unlawfully wearing the vest. Jones was indicted last week on four counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon but no vest count.

Asked Friday, Carney said that he hadn’t spoken with the assistant district attorney who indicted the case. It could have been an issue of whether the gun satisfies multiple elements of the crime. He believed it does. The omission also may have been an oversight. He expected it to be reexamined.

Still, Carney said, Jones is already facing up to 15 years if convicted on one of the weapons counts.

Carney also noted that there are legitimate public uses for body armor, including hunters or someone simply protecting himself.

PUBLIC POLICY

Mark Spawn of the New York State Police Chiefs Association also acknowledged that the current law may be little deterrent to those committing violent felonies.

But the same could be said for other laws, Spawn said. Part of it is a statement of public policy. “It’s not to be tolerated,” he said. “It’s a tool, but it’s not the only tool police can use.”

In general, Spawn said, body armor protects the good guys and is not to be a shield for the bad guys. The most common users are law enforcement and the military. “But when the intent of the wearer becomes an evil purpose, then it’s criminal, as well it should [be],” Spawn said.

And criminals wearing body armor is nothing new. It’s something police have long trained for.

In Schenectady, every officer is issued a bulletproof vest and officers are strongly encouraged to wear them, Clifford said.

Firearms training takes into account the possibility that a suspect is wearing a vest. Clifford declined to say what the response is but he did give some indication.

“When we are confronted with deadly physical force, we don’t respond with anything other than deadly physical force,” Clifford said. “It’s safe to say that we are there to eliminate the threat.”