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03-29-06, 07:55 AM
Source: Officer.com (http://www.officer.com/article/article.jsp?siteSection=3&id=29371)
FRANK BORELLI
Equipment Reviewer
Officer.com
While I was at SHOT Show I met the good folks from Baker Batshield. Now, I have to tell you up front: a "Batshield" was just a little too movie-television-comic book sounding for me to take seriously... at least at first. After spending some time in the booth with them talking about the background, construction, transport, deployment, etc., I started to think that maybe there was a real practical use for this Batshield thing. But, being the cynic that I am, I also recognized that I was in their booth at SHOT Show and the sales hype was coming on strong. So, before I committed to writing anything, I followed up with them after the fact... and invited them to do a demonstration at my range. I invited representatives out from several agencies and watched for their reactions to the presentation as well. After all was done and said, I'm a believer.
The Baker Batshield was developed by a veteran NYPD officer who identified some of the restrictions and challenges present when using only hard ballistic shields. Additionally, he wanted to create a portable armor system that would be advantageous for the patrol cops as well: not just SWAT (or ESU for NY) or other special units. What he ended up inventing is a folding, relatively light-weight, transportable, multi-use soft armor system that I believe is ideal for patrol officer use - as well as immediate response deployment use for specialized units, plainclothes units, etc.
As you can see from the photos at right, the shield provides a decent amount of protection from incoming rounds. The Batshield shown is the "compact" model and is about six inches smaller than its big brother, both in height and width. What I don't show in the photos is the storage bag for the shield. When stored, the Batshield is essentially folded in half. The storage and carry bag — itself made of heavy duty nylon — has a handle so that the shield can still be used for cover even while it's still in the bag. While the width of the cover is halved, the height remains the same and the protection is then a double layer of the composite armor used to construct the Batshield.
The Batshield was designed for ease of carry, and even to be pushed out of the way when both hands are needed. Also shown is a picture of Rick Armellino (thanks Rick!) from Baker Batshield, demonstrating deployment, firing positions, and the "on the back" slung position. When I saw this I thought, "every active shooter response needs at least two of these things: one for the point man and one for the rear guard." Of course, I had to correct my thinking. The rear guard shouldn't have his back to a threat!
Not being one to take the armor for granted, but not really wanted to shoot up an armor system that I couldn't afford to pay for, I settled for shooting up pieces of the composite armor material. Rick shot one piece three times with a .45ACP at a range of about six inches. The armor deformed some, but none of the rounds penetrated. Rick left a second piece of the armor with me, and I've since shot that piece up quite a bit. It stood up to .45 ACP jacketed hollow-point (JHP) ammo (Speer Gold Dot), 9mm JHP ammo (Federal Hydra-Shok +P+), .40 S&W JHP ammo (Federal Hydra-Shok +P), and more. I shot that one piece of armor — measuring about eight inches wide by four inches high — with about ten rounds. NONE of them penetrated.
Rick quoted me a cost of about $2,800 for the Batshield. While that might seem high to me (and others), I've never priced ballistic shields, so I don't know how it compares. I also don't know how realistic it is to think a patrol officer is going to carry around a hard ballistic shield with him. What I do know is that Rick reports agencies that have purchased these for their patrol officers because back-up officer response times can run close to an hour or more. They carry them in the bag on the passenger side of their patrol vehicles and have a ready source of portable cover if they need to get out in a hostile or potentially hostile situation.
Take a look at the pictures and decide for yourself how much value such an armor system would have for your agency.
FRANK BORELLI
Equipment Reviewer
Officer.com
While I was at SHOT Show I met the good folks from Baker Batshield. Now, I have to tell you up front: a "Batshield" was just a little too movie-television-comic book sounding for me to take seriously... at least at first. After spending some time in the booth with them talking about the background, construction, transport, deployment, etc., I started to think that maybe there was a real practical use for this Batshield thing. But, being the cynic that I am, I also recognized that I was in their booth at SHOT Show and the sales hype was coming on strong. So, before I committed to writing anything, I followed up with them after the fact... and invited them to do a demonstration at my range. I invited representatives out from several agencies and watched for their reactions to the presentation as well. After all was done and said, I'm a believer.
The Baker Batshield was developed by a veteran NYPD officer who identified some of the restrictions and challenges present when using only hard ballistic shields. Additionally, he wanted to create a portable armor system that would be advantageous for the patrol cops as well: not just SWAT (or ESU for NY) or other special units. What he ended up inventing is a folding, relatively light-weight, transportable, multi-use soft armor system that I believe is ideal for patrol officer use - as well as immediate response deployment use for specialized units, plainclothes units, etc.
As you can see from the photos at right, the shield provides a decent amount of protection from incoming rounds. The Batshield shown is the "compact" model and is about six inches smaller than its big brother, both in height and width. What I don't show in the photos is the storage bag for the shield. When stored, the Batshield is essentially folded in half. The storage and carry bag — itself made of heavy duty nylon — has a handle so that the shield can still be used for cover even while it's still in the bag. While the width of the cover is halved, the height remains the same and the protection is then a double layer of the composite armor used to construct the Batshield.
The Batshield was designed for ease of carry, and even to be pushed out of the way when both hands are needed. Also shown is a picture of Rick Armellino (thanks Rick!) from Baker Batshield, demonstrating deployment, firing positions, and the "on the back" slung position. When I saw this I thought, "every active shooter response needs at least two of these things: one for the point man and one for the rear guard." Of course, I had to correct my thinking. The rear guard shouldn't have his back to a threat!
Not being one to take the armor for granted, but not really wanted to shoot up an armor system that I couldn't afford to pay for, I settled for shooting up pieces of the composite armor material. Rick shot one piece three times with a .45ACP at a range of about six inches. The armor deformed some, but none of the rounds penetrated. Rick left a second piece of the armor with me, and I've since shot that piece up quite a bit. It stood up to .45 ACP jacketed hollow-point (JHP) ammo (Speer Gold Dot), 9mm JHP ammo (Federal Hydra-Shok +P+), .40 S&W JHP ammo (Federal Hydra-Shok +P), and more. I shot that one piece of armor — measuring about eight inches wide by four inches high — with about ten rounds. NONE of them penetrated.
Rick quoted me a cost of about $2,800 for the Batshield. While that might seem high to me (and others), I've never priced ballistic shields, so I don't know how it compares. I also don't know how realistic it is to think a patrol officer is going to carry around a hard ballistic shield with him. What I do know is that Rick reports agencies that have purchased these for their patrol officers because back-up officer response times can run close to an hour or more. They carry them in the bag on the passenger side of their patrol vehicles and have a ready source of portable cover if they need to get out in a hostile or potentially hostile situation.
Take a look at the pictures and decide for yourself how much value such an armor system would have for your agency.