Name/Title
Sussex Police chaplain's stab vest 2015Entry/Object ID
2491Description
Black rip proof nylon stab vest, with front zip fastening, radio clips at the front under each shoulder and two large front velcro fastening pockets. On the lest breast is a circular Sussex Police embroidered coat of arms badge and oner the right breast a velcro patch for attaching a designation badge. On the rear across the shoulders is a blue and white reflective checkered band over a large blue and white badge marked "Sussex Police Chaplain". Inside the cover are front and rear stab/ballistic plates. There are labels stitched inside marked "Mehler Body Armour M-Protect Technology" and one with care instructions marked Model CA0893A Style No. 166 Size 3.3 Manuf Date 12/2015 Serial Number 1741418 Protection Level HG2/KR1/SP1"Use
For a police chaplain to use for protectionContext
Sussex Police has a team of volunteer chaplains across the force area, that visit places of work to provide wellbeing support and encouragement to officers and staff, regardless of whether they have any faith or not. Traditionally they have been drawn from the Church of England, but in recent years moves have been underway to create a more diverse multi -faith chaplaincy.
This purpose made stab vest was obviously obtained for one of the chaplains so that they could visit officers on patrol in the course of their duties.
This type of stab vest, made by Mehler and dated 2015, was the second generation of vest used by Sussex Police, which replaced the first vests that had been made by Meggitt which were first issued in 2003. The embroidered badge used on it was exclusively used on uniform issued to civilian personnel within Sussex Police, and there probably would have been a velcro patch on the right breast echoing that on the back, "Sussex Police Chaplain", in order to clearly identify the wearer as not being a police officer. With the exception of the rear and front badges, this stab vest is identical to those that were issued to Sussex police officers and very similar ones are still in use as of 2023.