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Body armor

Updating Body Armor Standards to Protect Police

May 2024

A bullet can strike a police officer in a blink, so their body armor must be proven to work. Feeling more under fire than ever, the law enforcement community is raising the standards for ballistic-resistant police body armor to stop more rifle bullets, like those often used by active shooters, in an effort led by OJP’s National Institute of Justice.

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Specification for NIJ Ballistic Protection Levels and Associated Test Threats, NIJ Standard 0123.00

NIJ has released an addendum to the standard. The addendum is available in two versions, each includes the same information:

This addendum includes revisions to NIJ Standard 0123.00, Specification for NIJ Ballistic Protection Levels and...

Ballistic Resistant Body Armor and the NIJ Mark

The NIJ Compliance Testing Program’s (NIJ CTP) goal is to improve criminal justice practitioners’ confidence about the products they own and about how those products meet applicable requirements and perform as expected. To achieve this goal, the NIJ CTP must evaluate products independently and communicate the evaluation results to practitioners.

Although the NIJ CTP maintains a list of compliant products for practitioners to reference, additional...

Body Armor

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Firearms are one of the most dangerous threats faced by law enforcement officers in the United States. During the past three decades, ballistic-resistant soft body armor has saved the lives of more than 3,000 police officers. Body armor is critical safety equipment that law enforcement and corrections officers need for personal protection.

NIJ establishes and updates voluntary minimum performance standards for body armor, conducts testing...

The Evaluation of NIJ by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences: NIJ's Response

June 2011

The National Academies conducted a comprehensive evaluation of the National Institute of Justice. This panel provides an overview of the evaluation and NIJ's response to it. NIJ has accepted many of the recommendations in the NRC report, and you will learn what the agency is doing to implement them. A few of the recommendations were challenging and created considerable debate within NIJ. Plans to address these thorny issues also are discussed.

Second Progress Report: NIJ's Response to "Strengthening the National Institute of Justice"

Message from NIJ Director John H. Laub in response to the report Strengthening the National Institute of Justice by the Committee on Assessing the Research Program of the National Institute of Justice at the National Research Council.

This page provides updates on our response to the results of an evaluation by The National Academy of Sciences that examined NIJ capacity for meeting the needs of...

Special Technical Committees: How They Are Changing NIJ's Standards Development Process

June 2010

NIJ has established a new standards development process based on Special Technical Committees whose members include practitioners, scientists, researchers, subject matter experts, staff of test laboratories and major criminal justice stakeholder organizations, and representatives knowledgeable in standards development and conformity assessment. The members collaborate to develop the standard and ensure that practitioner needs are addressed.

Director's Message: Equipment Guidance From NIJ and Our Expanding Standards Program

In our personal lives, most of us do some research before we buy a new tool or piece of equipment. We want to make sure that what we buy works as it is supposed to and that we get our money’s worth. When criminal justice agencies purchase equipment, the stakes are higher. Equipment is costly, budgets are tight, and most importantly the lives of officers...