MUSKEGO, Wis. — Leaders from the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) held a ballistic shield demonstration in a Muskego range Thursday to show off the new equipment now available at all seven districts.
The shields were purchased through a $64,000 donation from the Johnson Brothers at the request of MPD officers to make them more available. Officers will be trained on shield formation to tackle threats and rescues, mainly in active shooter scenarios.
“We use examples, not only locally but nationally, to say ‘okay, what are the best practices? What are the best tools to utilize?’ And seeing that we have these situations—active shooter situations, we saw it in Buffalo, we saw it in Uvalde,” MPD Chief Jeffrey Norman said. “This was something where we were able to fulfill a request that made sense and has a lot of use.”
The 27-pound shields offer a higher level of protection from pistols and rifles. As of Thursday morning, 250 officers had already trained to use the new equipment.
Ballistic shields were previously only available for specialty units at some districts.
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