On May 14, 2014, the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary held a hearing on the Bulletproof Vest Partnership (BVP) Grant Program, a lifesaving program whose charter expired in 2012. IACP President Yost Zakhary was invited to testify before the committee along with Officer Ann Carrizales from the City of Stafford, Texas, Police Department.

The hearing, The Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Program: Supporting Law Enforcement Officers When It Matters Most, was during National Police Week. President Zakhary discussed his own department’s use of the BVP and how it enabled his agency to purchase a total of 72 vests with matching funds since 2000. This means that every officer in his department is fully equipped with lifesaving body armor.