How to dry and store body armor between shifts

A ballistic vest comes off wet at the end of a shift. What happens in the next eight hours decides how it fits next week and how long the carrier lasts. This is the short version of what armor care cards ask for, and what a rated hanger or stand changes.

What sweat and heat do to soft armor

Soft armor panels are sealed in a water resistant cover, but the carrier around them is fabric. A wet carrier folded over a chair or crumpled in a trunk stays damp. Damp carriers smell, stretch at the straps, and lose their shape at the shoulders. A closed vehicle in the sun is worse. Check the care card that came with your armor. Most call for storing the vest flat or hung on a supportive hanger, indoors, away from heat and direct sun.

Flat or hung

Care instructions usually give two options: lay the vest flat, or hang it on a hanger wide enough to carry the shoulders without a crease. A wire or plastic clothes hanger fails both tests. It bows, the straps slide toward the hook, and the panels curl around it. Flat storage works at home and takes a shelf. Hanging works everywhere else, if the hanger is built for the load.

What to look for in an armor hanger or stand

• A load rating that covers the loaded carrier with plates, radio, and belt. Swift Stands rates the SWIFT Hook to 100 pounds and the SWIFT OG stand to 95 pounds.
• Wide arms that hold the front and back panels apart so air moves between them.
• Materials that do not rust in a locker: stainless pins with zinc-nickel plating, anodized aluminum, glass-filled polymer.
• Small enough that you carry it. A hanger that lives at home does nothing for you at the academy, on a training week, or in a hotel.

Two setups officers use

Locker or bedroom. The SWIFT OG Portable Gearstand stands on its own. Carrier on the upper yoke, helmet on the shaft, duty belt on the arms. It stows to an 18 inch cylinder when you move.

Travel and the patrol car. The SWIFT Hook folds to 8.7 inches and weighs 15 ounces. It rides in a cargo pocket and opens to a 17.5 inch hanger with angled or flat arms.

A routine that takes two minutes

1. Vest off. Plates out if your carrier and your policy allow it.
2. Wipe the inside of the carrier with a damp cloth. No bleach and no dryer, per most care cards.
3. Hang it on a rated hanger or stand with the panels separated.
4. Let it dry indoors, out of the sun.

Black Box Safety, Inc. supplies body armor, carriers, and duty gear to law enforcement agencies from El Cajon, California, and ships UPS across the West Coast and the continental United States. CA DVBE Cert. 2009473. SDVOSB.