Family donates body armor to Troop F
Christmas arrived early for Troop F this year because of the generosity of a local family.
Enhanced body armor has been provided for the entire Louisiana State Police troop by Bunzy and Lynn Bryant. The new vests, which feature ceramic plates, can be used in heightened response situations due to their increased capabilities.
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According to Lynn Bryant, a Louisiana Troopers Charities decal described their hopes for the vests best. The decal's message? One vest, one life.
"The normal vests that we wear daily will stop pistol rounds and some shotgun rounds," Michael Reichardt, Troop F public information officer, said. "These will stop high-powered rifles, AK-47s and AR-15s, so this is something we needed."
Reichardt said the LSP SWAT team already possessed similar vests, but the Bryant family provided the protective gear for everyone — 90 vests in all.
"It's not only for the road troopers," he said. "It's for all of our investigators, our narcotics agents, our detectives. Everyone in our plain clothes division received one as well."
Bunzy Bryant said he reached out to Capt. Tommy Lewis, Troop F commander, regarding the vests after his family saw the need for this type of protection for law enforcement officers.
"We want to know when they leave home in the morning, they get home in the afternoon," Bunzy Bryant said, "and it was something we talked about, prayed about, and we wanted to do this for the entire troop. We didn't want to try to raise money in the community. We wanted to leave that money hopefully available for another businessman to step up and protect the other law enforcement agencies in the city, the parish and the state. There are a lot of them that don't have this protection."
Lewis said the Bryants have been long-time supporters of Troop F and have done a great deal in the community without asking for anything in return. However, discussing this act of generosity, he said, could not be passed up.
"Thank you for being philanthropists for this entire community and for using us as an impetus to get this out," Lewis said.
