Transparent Ballistic Shields by AP&T International

At SWAT Round-Up’s vendor area, I spied a product with which I am very familiar—transparent shields!  I stopped at the booth and met with David Malouff, AP&T International’s Vice President for Sales and Marketing.  We have been using AP&T’s 11” X 16” Level IIIa handheld transparent shields on operations for over 12 years.  I told Malouff we were very happy with their attributes and performance.

AP&T International is a corporation that specializes in ballistic protection through the use of their proprietary transparent material that is H.P. White Laboratory tested for ballistic integrity and compliance to current NIJ Level IIa through IV standards.

The advantages to a transparent shield are obvious.  Increasing the shield operator’s visual range makes for more efficient movement and threat assessment.  A shield is useless if the operator takes a header over unseen obstacles in a house or yard.  Negotiating stairwells can be problematic when you can’t see what is in front of the lower half of your body.

A clear shield also allows for all the officers behind the shield bearer to see what is going on in front of them.  That amounts to more eyes on target and less of a “blind snake” approach to the problem.

We use our small handheld 11” X 16” AP&T shields for some very specific work in vehicle takedowns.  Our pair of shields has been used on more than a hundred deployments.  No other type of shield affords us the protection, visibility, and domination required for this method.  AP&T also makes a transparent ballistic clipboard for traffic stops.

Mr. Malouff showed off some new larger shields at SWAT Round-Up.  I tried out a 21″ X 36″ Level IIIa shield that had a harnessing system with a quick-release pin.  The harness made maneuvering the transparent shield nearly effortless and spread its weight across the user’s torso, reducing arm and shoulder fatigue.

In addition to ballistic shields, AP&T manufactures ballistic furniture that includes security work or computer stations, podiums, security screens, free standing ballistic walls, tables, partitions, and magnetometer skirting.  EOD Blast Shields, Window Retro-fitting Systems, and other custom works are also available.

AP&T International has been producing transparent ballistic products for nearly fifteen years.  Their motto of “When Visibility Counts” is very appropriate.

Randall

This entry was posted in Protective Armor, SWAT and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *