A Department of Justice investigation finds that a type of bulletproof vest used by many police departments fails to stop bullets over time. One major manufacturer warns that the underlying Zylon fabric degrades at an unsafe rate. The Justice Department estimates that by 2003, upwards of 240,000 of the vests were in the field.
STEVE INSKEEP, host: Justice Department tests reveal that bulletproof vests made with the      synthetic fiber Zylon fail after repeated use.  The study included vests      made by nine companies.  Now the government has announced it will provide      more than $33 million to help police departments replace those vests.      NPR's Chris Arnold reports.</s>CHRIS ARNOLD reporting: The Department of Justice gathered about 100 Zylon vests from police      officers who'd been using them around the country.  Testers then fired      six rounds at them from .357 Magnums or other common handguns.  Bullets      punched clear through more than half the vests; 58 percent failed      completely.  Sarah Hart is the director of the National Institute of      Justice, the arm of the DoJ that did the testing.</s>Ms. SARAH HART (National Institute of Justice): These are extremely      significant findings and of great concern to us and I'm sure the law      enforcement community.  One of the things that we also found here is that      a visual inspection of the body armor won't disclose whether it's gonna      fail or not.  You can't tell just by looking at it whether it's gonna      stop a bullet.</s>ARNOLD: Starting in the late 1990s, Zylon body armor became popular with      police officers because the fabric was much lighter and more flexible      than Kevlar.  The DoJ estimates that by 2003, upwards of 240,000 of the      vests were in the field.  But then a police officer from Pennsylvania was      shot and the bullet penetrated his Zylon vest, leaving him paralyzed.      That vest's manufacturer, Second Chance Body Armor, issued a massive      recall and has been warning about safety problems.  So many people have      lost faith in Zylon already.</s>Lieutenant KEVIN SOMMERS (Police Officer): Zylon body armor is unsafe.</s>ARNOLD: Kevin Sommers is a police lieutenant in Michigan who chairs a      safety committee for the national Fraternal Order of Police.  He says the      earlier reports of problems have driven many police departments to      replace their Zylon body armor, though some haven't been able to afford      to pay for new vests yet. He says one good thing that's come out of all      this, though, is that the DoJ now realizes that its previous methods and      standards for testing bulletproof vests were inadequate.</s>Lieutenant KEVIN SOMMERS (Police Officer): The standards were you take a brand-new vest out of the      box, put it up against a clay dummy, shoot it a couple of times.  If      there was no penetration or it didn't have a severe back-face signature,      then it was certified and put out on the market.  Well, what happens when      you put a vest on someone 280 pounds, my size, sweating in the humidity      of August in Michigan?</s>ARNOLD: It turns out that's what degraded the Zylon vests.  Heat and      humidity broke the fibers down much faster than the manufacturers said      that it would. Doug Wagner is an attorney for Second Chance Body Armor.      He says the DoJ findings vindicate his company, because a range of other      manufacturers of Zylon vests are now shown to have the same safety      problems.</s>Mr. DOUG WAGNER (Attorney): All manufacturers are affected.  The real      problem here is in the internal chemistry of the fiber itself.</s>ARNOLD: Wagner points the finger at the Japanese company Toyobo, which      manufactures the underlying Zylon fiber used by body armor companies.      The federal government, about a dozen states, police departments and      others have filed lawsuits against Second Chance and Toyobo.  Some allege      that the companies knew there were safety problems long before they came      to light.  The companies deny that, and Toyobo, in a statement, said that      Zylon is still a superior fiber for body armor applications when it's      properly used.  Chris Arnold, NPR News.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, host: This is NPR News.