All NYPD patrol cars to get bullet-proof inserts for windows

Officials in New York City say Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration will spend more than $10 million on bullet-resistant window inserts for all NYPD patrol cars in the next two years.

The NYPD started piloting the inserts last year, following the ambush killing of two officers — Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos — in December 2014, and the killing of Officer Brian Moore in May 2015. The bullet-proof inserts cover the back portion of the driver and passenger side windows, and they prevent the windows from being rolled down.

“This is about having the backs of our men and women in blue who, with courage and commitment, don the uniform every day to protect and serve,” said City Hall spokesman Austin Finan, according to the New York Post. “This investment is our commitment to ensuring the safety of those officers on the beat.”

The city will use asset forfeiture funds to outfit the 3,813 patrol cars with the inserts — half of them this year, half next year. Last year, the city allocated nearly $7 million so the patrol cars could get bullet-proof panels inserted into the doors.

In October, officials in Longmont, Colorado, about 40 miles north of Denver, announced that patrol cars there would get bullet-proof windows and windshields.

Several officers were killed or injured in their patrol cars last year in ambush-style attacks — including two officers killed in Iowa, an officer injured in St. Louis, and another injured in Philadelphia, among others.