Washington, D.C. July 14, 2005. The Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), the world's largest organization of sworn law enforcement officers, has strongly endorsed the whistleblower lawsuit filed by Dr. Aaron Westrick, the former Director of Research and Composite Development for Second Chance Body Armor.

The suit, which has been joined by the Department of Justice, alleged that Second Chance and the Toyobo Company knowingly sold defective bullet-proof vests to police officers throughout the United States.

The suit is based on documents confidentially provided to the U.S. Department of Justice by Dr. Westrick. The documents included an internal Board of Director corporate memorandum which confirmed Second Chance's knowledge that a police officer could die as a result of wearing one of the defective vests. The company ordered that the memorandum be destroyed. Westrick saved one copy and leaked it to the Department of Justice. In 2004, after Dr. Westrick confirmed in a deposition that he had refused to shred numerous incriminating Second Chance internal documents, he was fired from the company.

• Bulletproof vests under scrutiny; company denies knowing product was defective
  By Lisa Myers & the NBC investigative unit
  NBC News, Dec. 8, 2004