Over two-dozen police departments across Vermont will be able to buy bulletproof vests under a program authored by Vermont U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy. Twenty-nine departments were awarded over $70,000 to buy the protective vests.
Leahy and Colorado Republican Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell authored the Bulletproof Vest Grant Program in 1998 after two New Hampshire state troopers were killed in a shooting the year before. Neither of the troopers was wearing a bulletproof vest.
Vermont towns that will receive the money include Berlin, Ludlow and Richmond.