Body Armor

Protecting yourself with body armor is necessary to some extent if you suspect violence in some sort of form.  This is not you being paranoid, this is you wearing the necessary attire for what you’re doing.  I want to take you through a variety of types of armor to consider. These won’t make you superhuman, but something could save your life or give you a little extra durability if you do get caught in a fight.  Be aware that you could make a standard uniform with less armor and a more heavy duty uniform with increased armor.  This way you have more mobility most of the time, but if you have a gang move into the area you regularly patrol (or something along those lines) you can amp up your personal protection.

Soft Armor - Soft Armor is used in a lot of sporting equipment such as football padding, torso padding, and forearm padding.  McDavid (brand) uses a cool material called D3O, which is a non-Newtonian fluid that can be formed into padding.  If you remember your high school chemistry class, non-Newtonian fluid acts as fluid in a regular state, but if you apply pressure it instantly becomes a solid.  McDavid has formulated D3O into sports padding.  It’s used for impact sports.  You may also find soft armor in the form of: elbow pads, knee pads, and other soft sports protection.  You can also add a little extra padding to your uniform for additional blunt impact resistance, as well as amping up your look - think shoulder pads, butt pads, etc.

Plastic Hard Armor - Plastic hard armor is common with motocross body armor.  It’s made to deal with light projectiles and deflecting obstructions - which for dirt bikes and motocross would include rocks, tree branches/brush, impacts, and other off-road hazards.  Motocross body armor looks like motocross body armor, no matter how you paint it.  You can absolutely paint it, by the way.  Use paint made for plastic like Kryolan Fusion spray paint.  Also, this can be paired with soft armor.  

Leather Armor - Leather armor can be a great way to protect yourself from terrain, rocks, and deflect a lot of attacks, but is terrible at anything that can pierce (knives, bullets, arrows) unless it has proper treatment.  Leather armor is flexible and lightweight, which is why it's been used as armor for thousands of years.  Do a little historical research into leather armor and look online for leather armor.

Metal Armor - Metal armor seems mostly impractical as a whole.  If you were to wear a metal suit, the right impact could bend the suit causing you bodily harm just from the suit alone.  What you might want to consider, if you are interested in metal armor, are metal pieces of armor used with other types of body armor.  Metal shoulder spaulders or bracers can protect and add flair to a uniform.  If you do use metal armor, just be smart about it and use high quality pieces.  Functional armor tends to be made from 18 gauge steel, while WMA armor is made from 16 gauge steel.  Neither is bulletproof, but a knife will be deflected.

Standard Ballistic Level Chart for Level IIIA, Level III, Level III+, and Level IV.

Bulletproof Clothing - Bulletproof clothing is designed to be worn by plain clothes police, military, or security (mostly).  Premier Body Armor sells a body armor t-shirt for $289 that is rated for Level IIIA.  There are some other places online that sell bulletproof clothing.  Your best bet is to find something that is Level IIIA rated, which encompasses most guns used on the street.  The downside is the impact (if you do take a bullet) and the fact that bulletproof clothing usually only protects vital areas of the body.  It does allow for more mobility than a stiff vest.

Jon Bernthal as The Punisher wearing an overt bulletproof vest with the classic skull logo.

Bulletproof Vest - Bulletproof vests with a Level IIIA rating usually run between $500-1200 dollars and can be concealable (worn under clothing) or overt (worn over clothing).  Lightweight, you may be looking at ~5lbs.  Heavyweight, you may be looking more at ~8lbs.  If you opt for a bulletproof vest, you can train for the additional weight by wearing a weighted vest during workouts.  Aim for high level rating, lightweight, and thin.

Bullet and Stab Vest - These vests have stab and spike ratings, as well as bullet ratings.  These used to be exclusively made with hard plates, but nowadays they can be made with soft plates.  They range from $600-1000.  If they are made with hard plates, they will be heavier than a lightweight bulletproof vest.