Local police departments have donated “expired” body armor to the people of Ukraine amid the ongoing war with Russia.

The Oak Harbor Police Department, along with the Anacortes Police Department and the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office, donated a total of 160 bulletproof vests to Ukraine “for the protection of their citizens during the on-going conflict,” according to a press release.

Police are required to replace body armor after the manufacturer’s expiration date, which is generally five years. Oak Harbor Police Chief Kevin Dresker said there can be some degradation of the vests after the expiration date, but it can vary by use.

“It can vary by how much somebody sweats and that might permeate the vest,” he said. “It can vary by the weather. If you’re in the rain a lot, water can have a degrading effect.”

Dresker said the expiration dates don’t necessarily mean the vests are no longer viable, but the police department chooses to follow the recommendation to take them out of service after that date.

Oak Harbor police had around 60 bulletproof vests that were expired, some by five to eight years.

“To get rid of them, we do a destruction process,” he said. “We might shoot them at the range for some purpose, or we just store them.”

Oak Harbor’s police department worked with its legal team, the city administrator and the mayor to surplus the vests “which we would have to dispose of somehow anyway,” Dresker said.

The effort to collect body armor was organized at the state level by the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, which consists of executive and top management personnel from law enforcement agencies statewide, according to the association’s website. The Washington National Guard and California National Guard are taking care of collecting the vests and shipping the body armor to Ukraine.

The body armor will be delivered to a non-governmental agency in Ukraine in the next few weeks, according to Steve Strachen, executive director of the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs.

“It’s purely for protective purposes and it’s for use by civilians,” he said.

Strachen explained that while the expired vests can no longer provide a level of protection suitable for police officers, they are suitable for civilians who live in dangerous areas.

“They’re still very usable, particularly in the situation in which Ukraine finds itself,” he said.

Police departments across the country are participating in the effort to donate body armor.

Dresker said that the donation falls in line with the mission of the police to protect the innocent and keep people safe.

“We have a lot of innocent civilians and people who are dying as a result of another country coming in and doing what they’re doing,” Dresker said of the Russian invasion.

The police hope the donation will make at least a small impact in helping save lives and keep the people of Ukraine safer during the conflict.

The Oak Harbor Police Department donated 60 bulletproof vests to the people of Ukraine. (Photo provided by Oak Harbor Police Department)