With more than three decades manufacturing bulletproof security systems, Total Security Solutions is the industry leader for custom bullet resistant barriers that meet your bulletproof security needs on-time, on-budget, and expertly finished.
In a $3 million building project it’s easy to let a $30,000 detail slip into the background, especially when you won’t be the one standing behind that ballistic glass every day. But if your client needs a bullet resistant barrier, then the functionality of that system–no matter how small it seems in the scope of the project–is going to define how they feel about your design.
Implementing a functional bullet resistant barrier means asking yourself three questions before you even fire up AutoCAD.
What is the threat level?
What is the business workflow?
What are the structural realities?
Threat Level
Make sure the client has a clear idea of what threats to expect: Opportunistic criminals armed with pistols? Homegrown or internationally trained terrorists? Violent protests? Explosive blasts or forced-entry?
This chart and our past blog post on the matter will give you a good footing with UL bullet resistance ratings. This rating system is used for all the components in a bullet resistant barrier system, from the acrylic or polycarbonate in a transaction window to the bullet proof fiberglass lining the walls.
Classic medieval castles were imposing fortifications: Tall, flat wood or stone walls were hard to scale and offered archers a terrific vantage for picking off charging foot soldiers and cavalry. With the advent of gunpowder, it quickly became apparent that these same baileys proved poor protection against cannons and mortars. The solution was to bury the walls. Dirt slopes–called glacis–absorbed and redirected the energy of a cannon round. Although rudimentary, the design is sound, and is even seen today in modern sloped armor for vehicles (often called “glacis plates”).
GRANITE, STEEL, CINDERBLOCK, CONCRETE
While dirt can be an excellent ballistic barrier–earthworks still have a respected place in modern military design–they obviously leave much to be desired, especially in the commercial market: Not a lot of banks are interested in doing business from a hobbit hole.
During World War II military engineers shifted away from relying on earthworks, and instead embraced steel, cinderblock, and poured concrete. These became the first “bullet proof systems” to enter the commercial market. Concrete, stone, and cinderblock are excellent for building bullet proof exterior walls–think of all those small-town granite-block banks–but awkward for interiors, and impossible to add to an existing structure. Although steel plates can be retrofitted and used to line interior walls, the weight of the steel bullet resistant panels calls for substantial reinforcement, often tantamount to building entirely new walls.
Worst of all, these aren’t terribly reliable materials. Poured concrete is notoriously fickle: relatively small fluctuations in temperature or humidity can cause the material to cure improperly, resulting in crumbling and cracking. Granite, as a natural material, can hide all manner of unseen flaws. Steel, brick, and concrete are likewise prone to voids and microscopic fractures that, while invisible to the naked eye, can cause the material to fail under strain or as they age.
HAND-MADE FIBERGLASS
Modern fiberglass–a rigid material made from cloth reinforced with liquid resin that is then cured–came into its own during World War II. But it wasn’t until the discovery of Kevlar and other bullet-resistant para-aramid fibers that bullet resistant fiberglass panels were born. In many ways, these were the ideal bullet resistant panel: Lightweight, easy to produce, and easy to work on site with hand-tools. Fiberglass also has the advantage of being highly malleable prior to curing: making a form-fitting bullet proof helmet is just as easy as making a flat bullet resistant panel. And while bullets tend to ping off of steel, ricocheting unpredictable, a fiberglass bullet resistant panel “delaminates” when struck by a bullet, absorbing the projectile’s momentum and thus minimizing ricochet.
The only hitch is in production. In contrast to steel and concrete, there was a very limited demand for bullet resistant fiberglass. Subsequently, it was produced exclusively by hand in small lots. According to Total Security Solutions vice president Jim Richards “each of these little shops had its own way of laying these panels up and cutting them to size.” Not only does this make it hard to acquire large numbers of these bullet resistant panels for extensive projects, but manual lay-up and finishing are also susceptible to human error and variance in quality and size.
PRECISION PULTRUDED FIBERGLASS
This all changed a decade ago, at the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom. At that time just three small fiberglass makers in Texas supplied bullet resistant panels for the entire US Army. But their manual processes couldn’t keep pace with the sudden military demand, which quickly spiked as Homeland Security grants filtered out to local communities. This surge in demand for fiberglass bullet resistant panels attracted large players–and large scale mechanization. Martin Marietta Materials of Georgia was the first large company to make the jump to entirely automated bullet proof panel manufacturing using pultrusion methods. Pultrusion doesn’t just speed up and standardize production, but also makes it possible to create arbitrarily large panels–and drives down cost. Suddenly high-quality bullet resistant panels were within the budget of even relatively small businesses.
NEXT-GENERATION CERAMIC BULLET RESISTANT PANELS
While various configurations of ceramic tiles have shown promise in both personal body armor and bullet resistant panels, these seem to be stalled in the “computer-simulated concept art” stage. As a commercial domestic bullet proof system manufacturer, Jim Richards isn’t all that impressed with ceramics. Ceramic plates fail to offer the weight advantages and ease-of-handling fabricators and installers enjoy with fiberglass-based bullet proof panels.
“When it comes to commercial bullet proofing for buildings, we’ve driven a lot of tech into this industry,” says Total Security Solutions vice president Jim Richards. Noting their computer-controlled lathes, water jet cutters, and industrial presses, Jim goes on: “We try to drive more in, but this is still a pretty old line industry. You’d be amazed how much is still done by hand. It’s just not as sophisticated as people tend to think, because they assume this has to be sophisticated to stop a bullet.”
For example, Jim points out that until recently even Total Security Solutions was using bullet proof panels that were handcrafted in small shops as single sheets, one at a time. “Down in Texas they have a couple of guys layering up these fiberglass panels by hand, hauling them into the presses, laying platens in between each layer, then pressing them to make sheets.”
Jim is quick to point out that there’s nothing wrong with this system, per se: even a completely non-automated hand lay-up process can produce quality bullet proof panels. Nonetheless, Jim prefers panels that have the most consistent quality and dimensions. Total Security Solutions has long distinguished themselves with the excellent fit and finish of their installation, but a seamless finish is only possible when you know that your bullet proof panels are manufactured within very narrow tolerances–tolerances impossible to achieve efficiently in a strictly manual process.
A decade ago, when large manufacturers like Martin Marietta Materials began producing bullet proof panels using a fully automated pultrusion process, Jim was happy to shift to these advanced suppliers.
BULLET PROOF PANELS FOR VEHICLES
The hands-on, hand-crafted character of bullet proofing is most obvious in retrofitting cars–a business that’s outside Jim’s area of expertise, but has long fascinated him. “They completely strip that car down and rebuild it,” Jim explains, “It’s just a ton of hand fitting, hand fabricating, cutting, welding, shimming in a bullet proof panel here, trimming a piece there–an incredible amount of work.” And also a job where American craftsman continue to shine. Although Jim has never sought to confirm this, he’s heard consistent rumors that South American and Mexican cartels, and shady operators worldwide, seek out only vehicles that have been hardened by US bullet proofers–a distinct, if unsettling, seal of approval.
Bullet proof glass gets the most attention, but it’s obviously pretty useless to have a bullet-stopping window set in a very bullet-permeable wall. Bullet proof walls may also be required.
INTERIOR BULLET PROOF WALLS
There are essentially two options when building a new bullet proof interior wall: “metal-stud” construction or “panel construction.” The difference is largely aesthetic, rather than in performance.
“METAL-STUD” STYLE BULLET PROOF WALLS
Most normal walls are “stud walls.” In home construction, this means the wall is framed out with two-by-four studs, and drywall is hung on this frame. The drywall is then “taped and mudded” (i.e., the seams and nail-pops are covered with a plaster-like finish), sanded (to make the surface smooth), and painted. Commercial construction isn’t that different, but for fire-safety and energy efficiency the wood studs are replaced by metal studs made from thin-gauge steel with a “C”-shaped cross section. Apart from that, the construction is identical: Frame the wall, hang the drywall, tape the seams, mud the surface, sand it down, and paint it up.
A “metal stud” bullet proof wall starts with this same frame, but instead of attaching the drywall directly to that frame, an intervening layer of bullet resistant fiberglass is screwed and glued to the studs (with four-inch wide interior bullet proof “batten strips” backing the seams in the bullet proof panels). Drywall is then attached to the fiberglass and finished as usual. The resulting wall is entirely indistinguishable from any “normal” wall. Total stealth security.
“PANEL” STYLE BULLET PROOF WALLS
Inconspicuous white walls aren’t a good fit for every company’s aesthetic. In these cases, bulletproof companies like Total Security Solutions frame the wall in sections using ballistically rated square-profile aluminum tubes–similar to the thick mullions on a window-wall. Each framed section then holds a panel made from a sheet of three-quarter-inch plywood epoxied to a sheet of bullet resistant fiberglass that is, in turn, covered by a thin finishing veneer. These veneers can be any type of wood, plastic, or an aluminum skin, giving enormous flexibility for the final look and feel of the bullet proof wall. Panel walls make a subtle–but persuasive–argument for the stability, permanence, and security a business values.
EXTERIOR BULLET PROOF WALLS
Fortunately, most commercial building materials used in exterior walls inherently offer decent bullet resistance. Poured concrete, cinderblock, and even lowly red-brick veneer will, for all practical purposes, stop any common domestic bullet. “These aren’t bullet proof walls,” Total Security Solutions vice president Jim Richards warns, “but there’s enough material there to slow down bullets and keep them from popping through.”
Unfortunately, commercial builders are increasingly turning to exterior insulation finishing system (or EIFS) for their exteriors. While these finishes often look like concrete–or even granite–they are actually made of a layer of thick polystyrene foam (akin to the styrofoam used for take-away coffee cups and carry-out boxes) covered in nylon mesh coated in a thin layer of concrete-like finish. While EIFS offers excellent energy efficiency and ease of installation, it’s not going to do much to slow even a low-caliber bullet.
In buildings with EIFS exteriors–including most newer government buildings–Jim has advised clients that it’s best to treat these exterior walls as susceptible to the same threats as the interior walls, and harden them with sheets of bullet resistant fiberglass.
STEEL vs. KEVLAR IN BULLET PROOF WALLS
Bullet proof fiberglass isn’t your only option if you need a bullet proof wall. In many situations good ole stainless steel continues to perform well–and is significantly less expensive (in terms of raw materials). Nonetheless, Jim finds that fiberglass is almost five times more popular than steel among his customers. He attributes this to fiberglass’s lower total cost and higher reliability.
Steel may cost less per square foot, but its added weight (twice that of bullet resistant fiberglass) means that walls almost invariably need to be reinforced to accommodate the weight of the steel panels. On top of that, steel cannot be trimmed or drilled on site. If an initial measurement turns out to be off, or the client wants a last minute change, those heavy sheets of steel have to be hauled back to the shop for trimming. Added expense in steel fabrication and installation absorbs much of the initial cost savings in materials.
But cost isn’t the key issue. “It’s tough to get an overall ballistic rating on steel-backed bullet proof walls,” Jim explains, ”because the trueness of the material is always in question.” Unlike modern pultruded ballistic fiberglass, steel is still not a consistent product. A visual inspection of a sheet of steel will never uncover a void within the metal, fundamental structural imperfections, or microscopic fractures that could collapse under the pressure of a bullet. No one wants to invest in a suspect bullet proof wall.
At first glance, pharmacies seem like unlikely customers for bullet resistant glass: These are largely not cash businesses–there’s no safe full of money or wealthy patrons with pockets full of cash–and are generally located near population centers (which complicates a smooth escape). Nonetheless, pharmacy hold-ups nationwide have increased 80 percent over the last five years, largely driven by the abuse of narcotic pain killers, which has spiked 400 percent since 2000.
GROUND ZERO: FLORIDA
While bullet resistant glass is a new and disorientating concern for pharmacists in Seattle, WA or Long Island, NY, it’s become the norm in sunny Florida, where a unique confluence of circumstances has fueled the nationwide abuse of prescription pain medicine.
In most of the United States a “pain clinic” is a small alternative medicine office where a chiropractor, acupuncturist, message therapist, anesthesiologist, or other caregiver seeks to ease chronic pain. Such pain clinics occasionally employ licensed pharmacists to dispense powerful prescription pain killers like Percocet, OxyContin, and the like. In some areas these “pain clinics” have drifted away from being multi-modality offices for managing pain, and become little more than “pill mills” handing out narcotics with little attention to why–or if–a patient needs them.
While pill dispensing “pain clinics” may have begun as legitimate endeavors, a combination of poor oversight and lax regulation quickly led to thinly veiled drug cartels dominating Florida’s strip-mall pain clinic industry (e.g., until 2011 even convicted felons could open “pill mill” pain clinics in Florida). By 2010 Florida doctors were dispensing more narcotic-based pain killers than the entire rest of the United States; for example, in 2010, 89 percent of all of the doctor-prescribed oxycodone in the US passed through a Florida office.
Oxycodone is dispensed by a pill mill at the standard pharmacy rate of a few dollars per dose. On the street these pills sell for 50-cents to a dollar per milligram (with the 15mg, 30mg, and 80mg pills being the most common)–that’s a markup of 200 to 500 percent. The absence of any sort of organized oversight in Florida–including the very common computer-based prescription drug-monitoring system that is now coordinated among many states–attracted pill-seekers from across the southeast, who then distributed pills at a profit as far north as the Great Lakes region and New England.
PILL MILL CRACKDOWN SHIFTS RISK
Cash operations dispensing valuable street drugs have little motivation to contact law enforcement; Florida pill mills were obvious targets for armed robbery, and routinely sought out bullet resistant glass installation as a regular part of “doing business.” Legitimate pharmacies, on the other hand, did not.
Around 2006–as the nationwide surge in prescription drug abuse was becoming apparent, with prescription drugs closing in on marijuana as the drug of choice among teens–Florida law enforcement finally began investigating pill mills, and occasionally shutting down the most egregious operations. In late 2011 Florida finally cracked down completely, freezing new licenses and mandating coordinated monitoring of prescriptions. Unfortunately, the damage was done: Florida had become firmly seated as the source for prescription pain medication, with a regular stream of “pill tourists” coming into the state.
When pill mills started closing in 2006 pain-pill addicts–both local and out-of-state–began to shop, and then attack, Florida pharmacies; since 2007 there have been more pharmacy robberies in Florida than in any other state. As these pharmacies embraced bullet resistant glass and other security measures, it ceased to be worthwhile to head to Florida for pain meds. Nationwide street-level drug distribution networks crumbled, and narcotic pain-killer–once plentiful and affordable–became scarce and pricey. Today small pharmacies across the United States are finding themselves in in need of bullet proof glass and a whole new kind of on-the-job vigilance.
Total Security Solutions, the leading manufacturer and installer of bulletproof glass, recently began offering National Institute of Justice-rated Level 4 glass to its customers. This top-rated bullet resistant glass product offers added security for Total Security Solutions’ retail, banking and government customers.
To pass the Level 4 test, bullet proof glass must stop a shot from a .30-06 hunting rifle.
“Customers come to us wanting a product that meets their security and aesthetic needs,” said Jim Richards, president, Total Security Solutions. ”Unlike our competitors, Total Security Solutions can deliver Level 4 protection in a custom product, such as a transaction window that includes a voice port. This new product line is a result of recent investments in our manufacturing facility.”
Total Security Solutions’ Level 4 bulletproof glass is a 4-ply combination of glass and polycarbonate that can be manufactured 1-1/2” thick. The framing system for the glass has a total extrusion of 3” x 5-1/2”.
Bulletproof glass is tested by firing a bullet from a set distance in a set pattern. Levels of protection are based on the glass’ ability to stop a bullet traveling at a specific speed.
In the test environment, the sample is rigidly mounted 15 feet from the rifle muzzle with a 1/8” thick “witness plate” of corrugated cardboard positioned 18 inches behind it. No marking, or impressions are allowed on the witness plate to achieve a pass rating.
Level 4 bulletproof glass provides ideal security for military bases, port of entry checkpoints, government facilities, embassies, and police stations.
According to an article posted on CitizensVoice.com, “A woman’s robbery attempt on Christmas morning failed badly: she pulled a knife and rock on a clerk protected inside a bulletproof booth and then became trapped in the store when he remotely locked the exit door.”
The Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania convenience store hasn’t been robbed in five years and the owner attributes the store’s safe reputation to the booth protecting its clerks. Catina Nahodil, the store owner, said. “I think employers who have these care about their employees a lot.”
Angelina Donvito was charged with robbery, disorderly conduct and public drunkenness. Nahodil hopes the failed robbery will serve as a warning to other criminals to avoid robbing her store.
According to a GainesvilleTimes.com article, the number of armed robberies in Gainesville, Georgia spiked in the month of August with 10 robberies. “We definitely have seen an increase in the armed robberies at the convenience stores within the past month,” said Sgt. Chad Ford of the Gainesville Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division.
Ford cited economic trouble as one possible explanation for August’s increase of robberies stating that at this point, the focus of the robberies has been on the money.
One particular Shell Food Mart was the target of two armed robberies in August. As a result, the store owner, Ahmed Tharani, is looking into bulletproof glass to protect himself from future robberies. Store owners are being advised to take precautions when transporting money to the bank and keep their businesses secure at night.
Ballistic glass is heavy. Conventional sheets of ballistic glass weigh around eight pounds per square foot, with high-caliber installations approaching twenty pounds per square foot. Even a relatively simple installation–like a three-by-four showroom or waiting area window–needs a robust framing system to hold it in place. It’s a little silly to go to the trouble of installing bullet resistant panels and ballistic glass using a frame that couldn’t stop a .22.
STEEL FRAMES FOR BALLISTIC GLASS
If the ballistic glass is destined to be mounted in an existing drywall or masonry wall, then a frame fabricated from off-the-shelf 14-gauge milled steel can work well. These aren’t aesthetically impressive frames, but they get the job done, and will naturally offer Level 3 security, stopping multiple shots from 9mm, .44 Magnum, and .357 Magnum weapons. But if you want a sharper look, or need better security, you’ll need to move up to aluminum.
A TRUE LEVEL 3 FRAME FOR BALLISTIC GLASS
As we’ve discussed in earlier posts, Total Security Solutions brought the true Level 3 ballistic framing system to the industry. Most ballistic glass installers are content to take an off-the-shelf aluminum window frame from Home Depot and “pack” it by gluing narrow strips of bullet resistant fiberglass inside the frame. Such jerry-rigged arrangements can pass Level 3 certification tests, but their long-term durability–especially as that glue ages–isn’t established. Many experts in the field, including Total Security Solutions vice president Jim Richards, don’t trust it. “It might stop the first bullet,” Jim offers, “but it’s going to blow off after that.”
For this reason, Total Security Solutions has designed and manufactured their own framing system from the ground up, purpose-built to be inherently bullet proof. The Total Security Solutions TSS-BL 1.75 framing system is made from aluminum extruded through Total Security Solutions’s own custom-designed dies. The resulting framing member, when viewed in cross section (as you can see at the center of this image) has a hollow rectangular interior.
Level 3 ballistic glass frame
The front and rear face of these framing pieces are abnormally thick–3/8 of an inch of high-quality, specially tempered aluminum–and have been independently confirmed to stop at least three 9mm, .44 Magnum, or .357 Magnum bullets. In the worst case scenario–that a bullet somehow penetrates the front 3/8 of solid metal–it will be caught within the hollow interior, maintaining the structural integrity of the installation and stopping the bullet.
LEVEL 8 FRAMING FOR BALLISTIC GLASS
In the last year Total Security Solutions went back to the drawing board and, building off what they learned designing their popular True Level 3 TSS-BL 1.75 system, came up with an all new ballistic framing system capable of offering Level 4 through 8 security–the highest level of ballistic security on the commercial market. This TSS-BL 5.5 framing system won’t just stop many rounds from common street pistols, but will also weather bursts from Uzi sub machine guns, M16s, AK-47 assault rifles, high-powered hunting rifles, and even 12-gauge shotguns. As you can see in the picture below, the cross section of this frame is slightly different from the True Level 3 system.
Level 4 thru 8 ballistic glass frame
Total Security Solutions has evolved their reliable extruded aluminum frame. They kept the 3/8 tempered aluminum faces used in the True Level 3 system, but the interior cross section of the Level 4 through 8 system is no longer rectangular. Instead, it’s shaped like an upper-case “I” lying on its side. Half-inch strips of bullet resistant fiberglass are snugly fitted into the perpendicular jots behind each face, and locked into place by the shape of the the frame. Subsequently, either face alone could stop a high-powered bullet, and the fiberglass can’t peel away from the face. When paired with an appropriate ballistic glass, these advanced true-rated ballistic framing systems offer a level of security second to none.
At one time, banks were the only places in the United States one would see bullet resistant bandit barriers. That changed in the early 1970s when 7-Eleven began operating most of its stores on a 24-hour schedule. Competing convenience and party stores followed suit. More than a quarter of all robberies take place between midnight and 6am, and armed robbers swiftly shifted from bank heists to liquor store hold-ups.
CONVENIENT FOR THIEVES
From a cost-benefit analysis, a bank robbery is a terrible proposition: These are busy, main-street locations with solid security protocols. According to the US Department of Justice, the average bank robbery now nets only around $4,000 (often recovered), with 60 percent of bank robbers ultimately apprehended. The Department of Justice notes:
The likelihood of catching a bank robber on or near the scene is higher than for other crimes. This is because most bank robberies are reported very quickly, most occur during daylight hours, many have multiple witnesses, and some produce photographic images that can be used to canvass the surrounding area for suspects. Consequently, many robbers are caught the same day.
In the 1970s convenience stores and gas stations with extended hours of operation offered an attractive new target for criminals. The convenience store industry responded with new training and business practices, and ultimately embraced bandit barriers in high-crime areas. Convenience store robberies have subsequently decreased by 16 percent since the mid-1990s.
Along with improved security, changing business practices also make 24-hour fuel stations and stores less tempting targets: Credit card transactions account for the majority of transactions in these shops. Meaningful sums of cash are almost never permitted to accumulate in registers or staff-accessible safes.
FAST ATTACKS ON FAST FOOD
Since 2007, many quick-serve restaurants have begun keeping later hours, often staying open past 2am and having staff arrive as early as 4am–this places nearly 20 percent of the workday in the highest-crime hours of the night. Since credit card use has only become possible at fast food restaurants within the last several years, many patrons still expect to pay cash for their burgers and fries. Large sums can build up in registers and safes, and are counted down in the wee hours by managers themselves just finishing a full day of hot, hectic work. To top it off, late-night fast food restaurants are usually located near expressways and other major roadways, making a quick getaway all the easier for armed bandits like these:
Although the Bureau of Labor Statistics says that homicides at fast-food restaurants declined in 2009, the rate of assault on fast-food workers is still roughly twice as high as that at sit-down restaurants: 1.8 per 10,000 workers.
BANDIT BARRIERS PROTECT WORKERS
With quick-serve chains making such attractive targets, many industry analysts wonder if enough security is being deployed during these high-crime hours. “Some fast-food chains have come up with special food menus after midnight,” says James Alan Fox, a Northeastern University criminology professor and Crime & Punishment blogger for the Boston Globe, “But what they really need are special late-night security menus.” While security cameras and guards can obviously aid investigation following a crime, many fast-food locations are opting to prevent attacks altogether with custom bandit barriers.
Following on the heels of Seneca Park Zoo who recently installed bulletproof glass in its new lion exhibit, the Edinburgh Evening News reported that the Edinburgh Zoo, located in Scotland, is installing bulletproof glass as part of its Panda exhibit. Bulletproof glass enables visitors the best view of the animals while keeping both parties safe from harm.
“Contractors have brought in ten huge glass plates, which weigh a half-ton each, to provide a secure barrier between visitors and the 250lb giant pandas.” The bulletproof glass install is part of a larger panda exhibit renovation that includes a swimming pool, cave, nursery and climbing area, as well as a glass walkway that surrounds the exhibit.
A masked man carrying an AK-47 assault rifle entered a Florida gas station convenience store just before 3:00am on July 23, but left empty-handed after discovering the clerk was safely protected behind bulletproof glass. No customers were harmed.
Police were able to catch a glimpse of his face, however, when he removed his mask as he walked out of the store.
At Total Security Solutions, we understand that your employees are your most valuable asset, and we work with you to design a custom bullet-resistant barrier that fits your business’ needs and protects the lives of your customers and staff.
An Associated Press article reports that “armed robberies at pharmacies rose 81 percent between 2006 and 2010, from 380 to 686, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says.” There have been several fatal robberies throughout the U.S. as individuals resort to theft to get their hands on prescription painkillers.
One Montana pharmacy was protected by the bulletproof drive-through window as a woman attempted to smash through the glass with a crowbar and break-in. Others have equipped their workers with wireless “panic buttons” that alert the police. As the occurrence of robberies continues to increase, more pharmacies are considering bullet proof windows to protect their employees.
A recent 40/29 TV article states that the Fort Smith, Arkansas Police Department is taking measures to protect the safety of their civilian workers and put more officers out on the street. Previously, an armed police officer manned the front desk of the station at all times, ”but with the addition of the bullet proof glass, those officers will now be out patrolling the streets, with civilian workers taking over desk duty.”
Watch the 40/29 TV interview of how the Fort Smith police are replacing security guards with bullet proof glass.
Creating a bullet resistant barrier isn’t just a matter of slapping together some acrylic and fiberglass, then screwing it all into place. High-quality construction is just as important as high-quality materials.
While some jobs call for custom designed systems of bullet proof glass and fiberglass, most applications are in established fields (banks, gas stations, offices), that are perfectly suited to prefabricated systems. While Total Security Solutions is eager to step to the challenge of an interesting custom job, they are more than happy to crank out bread-and-butter drop-in bullet resistant barriers for day-to-day applications.
By far the most popular pre-fabricated units are transaction windows. Constructing these is a five step process, each handled by a dedicated shop within the Total Security Solutions facility in Fowlerville, MI.
1) THE GLASS SHOP
The ballistic glass used in Total Security Solutions’s bullet resistant barriers arrives in large sheets, not unlike plywood or drywall. These sheets of ballistic glass come in several thicknesses, corresponding to their relative bullet-stopping power–for example, a one-and-a-quarter inch sheet will stop three 9mm bullets, while a slightly thicker piece is needed to stop a .357 Magnum. Workers use a large circular saw (the type often used to cut granite slabs) to divide the large sheets into individual blanks, each roughly the size of the completed window. These are then machined by hand using routers and drills, in order to add the appropriate notches, mounting holes, louvers, and voice portals. Finally, each piece is finished by sanding down or flame polishing all the rough edges.
2) THE WOOD SHOP
The bullet resistant barrier will ultimately be anchored to a counter top, which will also house the stainless steel deal tray. These counters are cut, drilled, and finished in the wood shop, and may be made from laminated wood, plastic, Corian, or even marble.
3) THE METAL SHOP
In addition to the stainless steel cash tray, transaction windows and other bullet resistant barriers need a steel or ballistic aluminum frame to hold the pieces together. In the metal shop, these pieces of channel are cut to size, drilled with mounting holes, and then smoothed and deburred for both aesthetic appeal and ease of installation.
4) ASSEMBLY
In a separate shop the pieces are brought together: Workers secure deal trays to the counters, then build and anchor the frames. Once they’ve slid the ballistic glass into place, they install stops to ensure a snug fit, then finish the frame. Once the bullet resistant barrier is fully constructed, it is thoroughly cleaned, wrapped, and prepared for shipping.
5) SHIPPING
Shipping a pre-fabricated bullet resistant barrier doesn’t mean tossing it into any old crate and slapping some stamps on it. These transaction windows can thwart 9mm bullets, but that doesn’t mean the won’t get dinged up or scuffed by a clumsy UPS man. Total Security Solutions relies on custom crates and shipping protocols to guarantee that their products arrive in pristine condition.
Although a single transaction window of any size can easily be finished in under a day, the genius of these drop-in units is that they can be integrated into the existing workflow of custom orders. In practice, Total Security Solutions builds 8 to 10 of these one-piece bullet resistant barriers per week. Maximizing the use of their equipment and workers’ time in this way keeps these units affordable without sacrificing any quality.
Emergency rooms in hospitals nationwide are experiencing an increase in violence. According to the Miami Valley Hospital administrator, “[ . . . ] people come to emergency rooms under stressful situations and included some who are intoxicated, victims of assault or are in police custody.”
As a result, more hospitals are taking precautions to protect their staff and patients. The article states, “[ . . . ] staffers receive special training to defuse heated situations and there is bullet proof glass in emergency room nursing areas.”
We love this piece from National Public Radio (NPR) on how building and battling robots gets kids geeked about engineering and manufacturing. We are engineers and manufacturers! To boot, during the robot wars, bulletproof glass protects kids from carnage.
According to NPR‘s report, “Inside an 8-foot-tall bulletproof glass cage, the gladiators buzz, crash and generally demolish each other. The bulletproof glass is an important feature — chunks of metal fly in all directions as students drive the robots using remote control.”
The purpose of the demolition is noble: Getting kids geeked about high tech manufacturing. According to the organizers, as reported by NPR, “Manufacturing’s not a smokestack industry anymore,” says National Tooling and Machining Association Chairman Grady Cope. “What we do is cool.”
Bullet proof walls are a vital part of any bullet proof system. Inch-thick acrylic windows and stainless-steel counters, cash-trays, and frames aren’t worth much if they’re bolted to a wall that can’t stop a shot from a .22 squirrel rifle.
What people commonly call “bullet proof walls” are really “bullet resistant.” Such walls are made from materials that have been tested and rated by independent agencies who verify that the material can stop a specific number of shots from a specific caliber firearm. For example, a Level 4 bullet proof panel will stop a bullet from a .30-06 hunting rifle, while a Level 7 panel will stop five shots from an M16.
To these standards, some materials are natively “bullet proof”: a foot-thick concrete wall or two inches of solid steel will withstand many shots from a handgun, sub-machine gun, or rifle. But in most cases building contractors can’t do an entire job in poured concrete and heavy steal slabs; they need to rely on existing or easily constructed stud walls made from light wood or metal frames and sheets of dry wall.
For practical purposes, the key to building a bullet proof wall is bullet resistant fiberglass (also called “opaque armor”). Fiberglass is a two-part laminated material made from plastic reinforced with synthetic fibers. The material is lightweight, strong, and although it is rigged once it dries, it can be easily molded into any shape during production (and is thus popular for boat hulls and auto body panels). The fiber at the heart of a bullet resistant fiberglass panel is a super-tough synthetic mesh of “Kevlar” (this is the most familiar brand name for this family of ultra-durable fibers, although that specific brand of bullet resistant fiber is only occasionally used in modern bullet proof panels). Ballistically rated fiberglass panels are thus often called “Kevlar panels.”
THE BIRTH OF KEVLAR
Developed in 1965 by DuPont, Kevlar was originally used to replace the steel and cloth belts in race car tires. The material itself is a woven synthetic para-aramid fiber (similar to nylon). DuPont had already invented several related aramid synthetic fibers, including Nomex (which is still used to produce fire-resistant garments for firefighters and test pilots). Kevlar shares Nomex’s lack of a melting point and near complete fire-resistance. But in contrast to Nomex or nylon, when Kevlar forms into fibers, its molecules naturally align themselves into long, unbroken chains along the fiber’s entire length. Subsequently, in addition to its fire-resistance, Kevlar is also highly resistant to abrasion and shows incredible tensile strength–making it perfect for catching bullets.
KEVLAR PANELS IN ACTION
Bullet resistant fiberglass panels are made by saturating the Kevlar-like mesh with resin. Flat layers of this resin-soaked mesh are then squeezed and baked by an industrial press. The result is a hard, dense, rigid panel. When striking one of these panels, a speeding bullet deforms, loosing much of its momentum. The layers of resin-caked mesh separate, unfolding like an accordion’s bellows, absorbing even more of the bullet’s energy. The practically unbreakable strands of Kevlar enmeshed in the panel do not permit the bullet to pierce through, and instead catch and deflect the projectile, like the walls of a bating cage shrugging off a hard line drive.
A bullet resistant panel just 1/4-inch thick can stop at least three 9mm bullets fired dead on from just a few feet away. Need to stop a larger bullet? Just laminate on more layers of Kevlar and resin during the production process, or layer up the panels themselves during installation.
BUILDING BULLET PROOF WALLS
Contractors looking to build bullet proof walls start by framing a standard stud wall. They then mount bullet resistant fiberglass panels on the studs, making sure to double-over all seams with additional strips of fiberglass. Finally, the contractor covers the fiberglass wall with drywall or paneling. The resulting bullet proof wall can be finished just like any conventional wall: painted, wallpapered, decorated with framed landscapes or advertising. It’ll stop bullets as well as a bunker, but to any passers-by it’s indistinguishable from a standard wall.
“Threshold resistance” is the natural (if irrational) human tendency to shy away from crossing into someone else’s space–specifically, into a store, bank, or other place of business. Since no transaction is possible until the customer comes through the door, builders who specialize in retail spaces do everything they can to reduce this psychological friction. For example, shopping mall magnate A. Alfred Taubman is famous for using shiny non-slip terrazzo tiles in his malls in the early 1980s–when most builders favored long-wearing industrial carpeting–because the dull carpet created both physical and psychological drag that prevented shoppers from casually gliding into stores.
BULLET PROOF BARRIERS AND THRESHOLD RESISTANCE
By their nature bullet resistant barriers can make customers feel cut off from staff–an effect all the more obvious if that barrier muffles voices, transmits light poorly, or becomes scuffed and foggy as it ages. But by the time a retailer contacts a bullet proof company like Total Security Solutions, their security worries have usually become acute. They’ve generally resigned themselves to increasing threshold resistance and loosing sales in the name of safety.
BULLET PROOF BARRIERS THAT EASE TRANSACTIONS
According to Total Security Solutions vice president Jim Richards, at this stage few business owners are considering aesthetics. “When I first get that call, they’re worried about security; they aren’t really concerned about what it will look like as long as it’s safe and they can talk through it. They’ve seen the old bullet proof barriers at the check casher down the street: that awful, old, green-tinted bullet proof glass with a big metal backer over the talk hole that no one can hear through.”
Customers are very uncomfortable when they feel they cannot properly hear the worker, or sense that they themselves aren’t being heard. Jim notes, “If the bullet proof barrier is designed correctly, then natural voice transmission just occurs; your clients hardly even notice the glass.”
Jim encourages his staff to walk business owners through the Total Security Solutions website, “the business owners start to say, ‘Wow, I can have something special here, something that brightens up my location, cleans it up, makes it look more professional, safe, secure.’ After we’re done installing, they’re amazed: They had no idea that it was going to be this beautiful, that it was going to be this clean, that the edges were going to be this crisp.”
Instead of hindering business, a well-designed bullet proof barrier actually lowers threshold resistance by reinforcing workers’ professionalism, customer’s confidence, and everyone’s safety.
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