St. Petersburg Police got a welcome gift this weekend that could potentially save their lives.
- Nonprofit donated 40 pairs of bulletproof vest plates for city's SWAT team
- New plates weigh less than older ceramic plates
- Still leaves some 500 St. Pete officers using older plates
On Sunday, the Partners for Life Foundation delivered 40 pairs of new bulletproof vest plates to the city’s SWAT team. Foundation officials say the $25,000 purchase was a gift that seemed appropriate, given the organization’s mission.
“The foundation’s original mission was to help [victims of] senseless acts of violence, and make honorary donations to families of first responders that have fallen,” said foundation founder Lorraine Yaslowitz Marino. “We decided, 'why don’t we disperse the funds to the SWAT team?'”
The vest plates were a poignant gift for Marino, in particular. In 2011, her husband Jeffery Yaslowitz was one of two SWAT team members gunned down when they confronted an armed fugitive.
“I think it would be a really neat personal honor for him, that the foundation that came from their deaths, that it go right to that team,” said Marino.
SWAT team members welcomed the new plates, which represent an upgrade from their current equipment.
“We went from an 8 pound ceramic plate down to a 1.5 pound composite plate,” said Officer Robert Peters. “The two of them together weigh less than a single one of them did before.”
There are still some 500 hundred St. Pete Police officers using the older ceramic vest plates. Officers are hopeful that this donation is the push the city needs to outfit the entire force with the new and improved plates.