Chicago buys face shields for police for summits

With thousands of protesters expected to descend on Chicago when the NATO and G-8 Summits are held in May, the city has bought more than 3,000 face masks for police officers that are designed to prevent liquid from splashing on their faces and into their eyes.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel awarded a Colorado-based company a $193,461 emergency contract for the masks, the first such contract since the city council voted last month to give him the authority to make such purchases for goods and services, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Tuesday. Under the approved ordinance, Emanuel has the ability to make summit-related purchases without council approval or competitive bidding if the items can’t be bought under existing contracts.

Officers have said the masks they currently have cannot protect them from the kinds of things protesters have thrown at police during other protests elsewhere, including bags of urine and feces.

The new masks, which will fit over gas masks, will include a seal that the shields the face.

“When they are in a riot situation and they get liquid thrown at them, the liquid will roll off the helmet, shell and off the face shield and not into the officer’s face,” said Steve Smith, president of the company that makes the shields, Super Seer.

Fraternal Order of Police President Mike Shields, who has been calling for the new shields, said he was pleased Emanuel’s office made the purchase. But he wondered whether 3,057 shields would be enough, saying that with so many protesters coming to the city, he would like to see all of the 9,500 patrol officers get them.

“Every one of them needs a new shield because every one of them has the old one and it’s completely ineffective,” he said.

Police have not said how many officers they expect will be deployed during the summits.