A sport utility style vehicle with the Philadelphia Police Department shield on it's open passenger front door sits in a police district parking lot. The vehicle is modern and has police lights on its roof.
The new patrol cars also have traffic signal preemption devices.

Philadelphia Police Department Receives First of 150 Patrol Vehicles Fitted with Ballistic Shield Technology

PHILADELPHIA- The Philadelphia Police Department today introduced the first of 150 patrol vehicles equipped with new ballistic shields.

The vehicles are 2018 Ford Interceptors, which are purpose-built law enforcement vehicles that are pursuit-rated and manufactured in the United States. The Interceptors are being fitted with ballistic shields manufactured by Hardwire LLC, a manufacturer of ballistic protective products for vehicles used by law enforcement, civilian and military.

These particular ballistic shields are relatively new to the market, and Philadelphia is one of the first major municipalities to use them.  The shields differ from other models in that they shield not just the front doors, but the door windows as well.  Prior ballistic shields on the market did not offer bullet proof glass and only provided protection on the door.

The Department will receive 100 of the Interceptor sedan models and 50 SUV models fitted with the Hardwire Ballistic shields.  They will also receive 10 Patrol wagons fitted with shields.  One hundred of the patrol vehicles will be delivered by mid-December, with the final 50 arriving by March 2018.  The ten wagons are due to arrive by February.

The first of these vehicles will be assigned to the 18th Police District (55th & Pine Streets). The assignment is appropriate: in the past two years, police officers patrolling the 18th District (Officer Jesse Hartnett and Sgt. Sylvia Young) were targeted by armed assailants as they sat in their patrol vehicles. Thankfully, both officers survived the attacks.

The incoming vehicles also have traffic signal preemption devices.  These allow the officer to trip a traffic signal to change to green when the patrol car’s emergency lights are activated.  The Streets department is installing these devices on new traffic signals on main streets in the city.

The arrival of the first patrol vehicle with ballistic shields comes as Philadelphia gets set to host the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) 2017 Annual Conference and Exposition.  The event, which runs through tomorrow, is considered the largest gathering of law enforcement leaders in the world.

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