Orlando officers get kevlar helmet that stopped Pulse shooter's bullet

Police: More officers targeted, violence against police on the rise

ORLANDO, Fla. – The same type of kevlar helmet that stopped Omar Mateen's rifle bullet the night of the Pulse nightclub massacre is now going into the trunk of every single Orlando Police Department patrol car.

Chief John Mina gave News 6 a first look at the helmets and armor-plated vests that are being distributed to all Orlando Police Officers.

The vest goes over the police uniform and will stop a rifle bullet.

"The officers who responded [to the Pulse Nightclub massacre] went in and really at great risk to their own lives went inside Pulse without the additional protection," Mina said. "Think about it, they went in there knowing the rifle round would penetrate the body armor that they had."

Mina said Pulse is an example of how ordinary officers face growing threats. Officers, not the SWAT team, were the first to respond to Pulse and the first to go inside.

"Is there a bigger threat these days?" asked News 6 anchor Erik von Ancken.

"If you look at what happened in New York and what happened in Kissimmee, it does appear that officers are being targeted more than in the past. Our philosophy around here is officer safety is our number 1 priority."
Mina also stressed the importance of sharing intelligence.

News 6 discovered that the Orlando Police Department received a tip from an officer that Everett Miller, the man suspected of shooting and killing two Kissimmee police officers last week, had threatened to kill cops. The information was passed on to the investigating agency --the Orange County Sheriff's Office, because the man lives in unincorporated Orange County -- but was never sent to Kissimmee PD, according to Orlando police.
"Intelligence is not any good unless everyone knows about it," Mina said. "So in this particular case, that information should have gone to the Central Florida Intelligence System immediately, in my belief. We did share it with another agency but we should have shared it with everyone."

Mina said from now on, Orlando police will pass along all threats against officers to the Central Florida Intelligence Exchange, or CFIX, to be distributed to all law enforcement agencies.

Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said he wants his deputies to learn from mistakes made by other officers by watching body camera footage and re-enacting the scenario.

"There's one thing that we don't know that the bad guy knows: the bad guy knows 'I got a gun and this is what I'm going to do,'" Chitwood said. "We want more live scenario-based real life training. Let's take a look at our body cameras when we see an officer does something tactically wrong."

FHP spokesperson Sgt. Kim Montes said troopers are encountering more and more aggression directed towards them.
Last week, a trooper on I-95 near Ormond Beach had to dive between his patrol car and a semi on the side of the highway to avoid a driver coming directly at him. Montes said the driver intentionally changed lanes to aim for the trooper, didn't stop, got off the highway, ran a red light, and drove away.

Montes said awareness is a critical component of trooper training.

"You ask any trooper, they will tell you they viewed the video of officer shootings, officer-involved fights, that way we can learn from what we're seeing," Montes said.


About the Author:

Erik von Ancken anchors and reports for News 6 and is a two-time Emmy award-winning journalist in the prestigious and coveted "On-Camera Talent" categories for both anchoring and reporting.

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