Police to upgrade police vests for petite officers within months

Petite female Queensland police officers less protected than thousands of their colleagues should receive new protective vests better to deflect knife attacks within months.

he Queensland Police Service Commissioner Steve Gollschewski during a press conference in Brisbane. Picture: Supplied

Petite female officers less protected than thousands of their colleagues should be issued new protective vests designed to resist knife attacks and firearms within months, Police Commissioner Steve Gollschewski says.

The Courier-Mail last week revealed that as many as 350 female officers of smaller stature had been working for more than a year without new integrated load-bearing vests, designed to give greater protection against edged weapons and firearms.

An issue where armour plates were too big to fit in the smaller sized vests has caused delays but officers have still not been given the new vests which provide a level of protection.

A knife blade protruding from a police protective vest in December 2023.

Thousands of officers have already received their new vests however petite females are still waiting, with the Queensland Police Union raising issues with the vest rollout with the police service for urgent attention.

The Commissioner has requested a brief on when the vest rollout will be complete.

“I should have that later this week, so I’ll have more certainly later this week, or in the timings for that and how we do it,” Mr Gollschewski said on Monday.

“We’re very committed to that, and I would anticipate that that will be done within the coming months.”

The $20m rollout of the vests began in January 2023, months after the service said they would be issued.

It meant hundreds of petite female officers were left with the old load bearing vests which do not give protection.

“It became very apparent when we were rolling them out, that there were particular officers that the way that we could fit them wasn’t fit for purpose,” Commissioner Gollschewski said of the new vests.

“So we had to go back to the manufacturer, engage with them, do design work and retrofit that fitting for those very specific officers.

“That’s rolling out as we speak.”

Officers without of the ILBV have been provided alternative protective body armour used by the QPS for years, which complied with national safety standards.

Police Minister Dan Purdie, a former detective sergeant, last week said it was unacceptable frontline officers did not have access to the lifesaving equipment.

“They do still have access to the (previous) vests, and I’ve been told that the (new vests) are now being fast-tracked,” he said.

“As I keep saying, I was on the front line, and I want to make sure my old friends on the front line have the best available equipment available to them when they do their job.”