LAPD SIS Develops New Armor System
LAPD SIS pioneers mobile apprehension and develops a new armor system with S.O.Tech... The COBRA SIS ARMOR CARRIER
S.O.Tech’s design staff is honored to develop an armor carrier for a progressive approach to law enforcement suspect apprehension program being pioneered and perfected by LAPD’s renowned Special Investigation Section (SIS).
The soft and hard armor carrier and specified pouches and go bags are part of a system designed to allow a plain-clothes officer in mobile surveillance mode to rapidly don his/her tactical gear, dismount the vehicle, chase down, and apprehend the suspected criminal.
The game changer here is that the entire ensemble is designed around mobility. The system is not only designed for rapid donning in the tight confines of a surveillance vehicle, but the vest is designed for mobility and dexterity during confrontations.
The days of the raid jacket are over as the modern urban environment requires up to ceramic plate rifle round protection. Conventional law enforcement procedures saw a detective in a jacket approach a suspect, now replaced by a bulky protective vest. The only other option was a heavily armored and encumbered SWAT team that could apprehend an armed suspect after that suspect was cornered in a static location where SWAT could set up a perimeter.
SIS developed and perfected tactics to break out of that box, allowing for the tracking and apprehending of suspects on the move. S.O.Tech designers spent months working with members of the elite LAPD unit, customizing the rigs around their deployment of weapons, auto glass breachers, distraction devices, bandoleers and other tools in well-choreographed foot and vehicle take-downs.
For the past 17 years, we at S.O.Tech have been lucky to be in Los Angeles working with LAPD SIS. They have a well-deserved world-wide reputation for surveillance and tactics. It’s been an amazing experience working with them as they identified such a significant tactical gap, developed radical-thinking tactics, and then perfected them to the standard of a major metropolitan department such as LAPD. Numerous Los Angeles area departments are already looking at adopting these TTPs and we expect to see detective bureaus and narcotics divisions world-wide adapt to the program. As professionals, S.O.Tech won’t discuss the intricacies of the tactics, but we will assist law enforcement professionals who have equipment/tactical inquires coordinate with the POC at LAPD SIS.
