Woodville PD gains ballistic shields

Woodville Police Department officers Steven Hoke, Grant Hensarling and Mike Williams, pictured left-to-right pose with their new Hardwire Tactical Shields, acquired through grant funding. CHRIS EDWARDS | TCB

By Chris Edwards
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WOODVILLE – Woodville police officers now have another tool to assist in extreme circumstances, a tool that offers them “a little bit of defense,” according to Woodville Chief of Police Mike McCulley.

Woodville Police Department, last week, received nine hard-coated, bulletproof tactical shields. The implements, manufactured by Hardwire, were acquired through a state-allocated grant the agency applied for in January.

Woodville PD was awarded the $36,190 amount which covered the cost of the shields, at a little more than $4,000 apiece, McCulley said.

“This is a major asset for us to have, in terms of safety for our officers,” McCulley said.

McCulley said that initially, he and his officers became aware of grant funding for the shields through their representative at GT Distributors, a nationwide firm specializing in tactical gear for law enforcement.

He said that the representative indicated that “very few” agencies had applied for the funding, which came through the office of Gov. Greg Abbott.

The funding was a $874.6 million allocation Abbott announced last fall for public safety initiatives, which include enhanced border security and school safety. McCulley said that along with the agency’s patrol officers being able to have a shield, both Woodville ISD school resource officers, Mike Williams and Steven Hoke, will have them in their offices as well as their patrol vehicles.

McCulley added that at 26 lbs., each shield is much lighter than many other types of shields used by law enforcement agencies.

According to the manufacturer, the shields are ranked as level three, which means they can stop handguns, shotguns and high-powered rifles, and are designed from Department of Defense-level armor technology.