Are our agents protected? After the death of an officer in El Chorrillo, the National Police admits the limitations of its equipment, while the Minister of Security reveals that thousands of vests are expired and must be rotated.
The bullet found the only hole left in the vest. That, in essence, is what National PoliceHe explained on Thursday, April 30, in an official statement, after weeks of questions about the death of one of his agents during an operation in El Chorrillo.
The shot entered through the space between the nipple and the left forearm, an area that no standard ballistic vest covers.
Albis Espinoza He died on April 12 in El Chorrillo, one of the neighborhoods of Panama City where citizen security continues to be a challenge.
In the midst of the operations of the so-called Firmness Plan, with which the uniformed officers seek to stop violence in critical areas of the country, he was shot by criminals in the area.
The agent’s death raised public questions about whether the Police equip their people well before sending them on high-risk operations.
As a result of this, they issued a statement in which they defend their ballistic vests and in passing remember that recently one of their men, a DIJ agent, survived a confrontation in San Miguelito precisely thanks to the vest.
There is no total protection
In the press release the institution acknowledges that the vests do not cover the entire body. “No vest offers total body protection for operational mobility reasons, so areas such as the face, arms and legs are exposed,” the document reads.
In the statement, the National Police promises to reinforce the provision of equipment for personnel on the street, although they do not give specific dates or figures.
Defeated team
Hours before the entity issued the statement, the minister Frank Abrego He spoke about the matter at President José Raúl Mulino’s weekly conference.
The minister put his finger on the wound. He stated that the National Police has 5 thousand vests that must be used by the officers on duty. Ábrego used the word “double”, meaning that they must rotate them.
And he added “that there is equipment that is already expired”, so they are in conversation with the Ministry of Economy and Finance to buy 10 thousand bulletproof vests.
