Training and Tech - Ed Hinchey – Body Armor and Surviving and Recovering After Being Shot

Episode Description - My guest today is Ed Hinchey, a retired Sgt. with the Forest Hills Pennsylvania Police Department. Ed is the survivor of a violent police shooting who was saved by his soft body armor. After retirement Ed became the Director of the Safariland Saves Program. In his capacity as Saves Director, Ed’s job is working with officers who have been shot in the line of duty and saved by their armor. As a result, Ed has likely interacted with more officers shot in the line of duty than anyone in the world. In this interview, Ed discusses witnessing his partner being shot, the first failure of soft body armor by a round it was designed to stop, surviving his own shooting, the aftermath of a shooting, the effects on the officer and their family, as well as the NIJ armor standards past and present. Ed also discusses how to best prepare officers for shootings and how to help them after a shooting occurs. Timestamps 1:30 – Ed’s Background 2:06 – 6/23/03 - The Edward Limbacher Shooting 4:55 – The NIJ Armor Standards and How They Have Changed 7:05 – Armor Failure – The Zylon Recall and The Old NIJ Standards 11:00 – Frustrations with the Armor Industry 13:23 – The Chronology of Ed’s Shooting 20:50 – His Injuries 26:30 – Arrival at the Hospital & Initial Treatment 33:00 – Surgery & Recovery 38:10 – Effects on the Family 45:30 – Community Reaction & News Media 51:14 – Retirement from Law Enforcement 57:04 – Starting His Second Career with Safariland 1:02:10 – Keys to Surviving a Shooting 1:07:15 – Going Beyond the Academy 1:20:45 - Why Armor Saves Lives 1:25:39 – Behind the Armor – Training Armor 1:30:17 – Mindset and Survival 1:33:14 - Social Media and Survivors Books Recommended Meditations by Marcus Aurelius – ISBN 048629823X The Man in the Arena: Selected Writings by Theodore Roosevelt - ISBN13: 9780765306715 Theodore Roosevelt on Leadership: Executive Lessons from the Bully Pulpit by James Strock – ISBN 0761515399 Sites Recommended NIJ Armor Standards - https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/body-armor-performance-standards Safariland Saves - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIM58xG6QM4flerbP6IU9qgXf7VJ5ZgJ7 https://scholar.harvard.edu/fryer/publications/empirical-analysis-racial-differences-police-use-force Contact Info Ed Hinchey Save #941 Safariland Saves Program ed.hinchey@safariland.com