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Effects of police body armour on overmatching ballistic injury

International Journal of Legal Medicine volume 134, pages 583–590 (2020)Cite this article

Abstract

Overmatching occurs when body armour that has been designed to resist perforation by a specified projectile is perforated by a greater threat. This may result in wounding to the body armour wearer. In this work, overmatching of two types of police body armour was studied using two types of ammunition. The use of a 250-mm-long gelatine block to represent the depth of the human torso combined with armour panels mounted on the anterior and posterior of the block allowed for a more realistic simulation to be completed. There was some evidence to suggest that overmatching events could lead to increased levels of damage during a survivable incident compared with no body armour being present. This information is of interest to armour designers and medical personnel that might treat such wounds.

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Notes

  1. GELITA® AG, UferstraBe 7, D-69412, Eberbach, Germany; Bloom strength 263

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Acknowledgments

The financial support of EPSRC and provision of ammunition, body armour and gelatine by Mr. C. Malbon of The Home Office Centre for Applied Science and Technology are recognised. The authors acknowledge the assistance of Mr. Miller and Mr. Teagle from the Impact and Armour Group, Cranfield University, with the ballistic testing reported in this paper. Comments on this manuscript were provided by Professor P.F. Mahoney.

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Author notes

  1. Alexander Mabbott

    Present address: Cybera, Suite 200, 3512 – 33 Street NW, Calgary, Alberta, T2L 2A6, Canada

  2. Debra J. Carr

    Present address: Defence and Security Accelerator, Porton Down, Salisbury, SP4 0JQ, UK

Affiliations

  1. Impact and Armour Group, Centre for Defence Engineering, Cranfield University, Defence Academy of the United Kingdom, Shrivenham, SN6 8LA, UK

    Alexander Mabbott & Debra J. Carr

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  1. Alexander Mabbott
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  2. Debra J. Carr
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Correspondence to Debra J. Carr.

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Mabbott, A., Carr, D.J. Effects of police body armour on overmatching ballistic injury. Int J Legal Med 134, 583–590 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-019-02070-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-019-02070-9

Keywords

  • Handgun
  • Rifle
  • 9 mm Luger
  • .223 Remington
  • Wound ballistics
  • Debris