[M.T. Pockets]

I sit on the purchasing committee for our department and there are several vendors who compete for business, fire service is actually very competitive, I'm thinking police would be also. The lowest bidder meeting the bid specs gets the business.

I'm pretty conservative but I can tell you this, I've never worried about the cost of my gear when I'm inside a burning building and my life and the life of my partner is depending on our equipment working 100% flawlessly.

The cost of equipment is a drop in the bucket compared to the potential loss of life or medical expense of an injury. Plus, who is going to be willing to work in fire or law enforcement for a department that isn't willing to provide adequate personal protection. I can see why those shields cost $2,000. If they work, the cost is peanuts. If they don't, the manufacturer will need to sell a lot of them at that price to pay the claims.