ALAMOSA —Deputies at the Alamosa County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) gathered in the board room of the Alamosa County commissioners on Monday afternoon where they were presented with, perhaps, one of the most important pieces of equipment in their profession.

When deputies started filing into the room, their attention was immediately drawn to a long table holding 19 of the best state-of-the-art bulletproof vests, each vest with a deputy’s name already on it.

The vests were made possible by the work of Jake Skifstad, founder and president of Shield616, a Colorado Springs based, nationwide non-profit dedicated to providing first responders with top-of-the-line bulletproof vests capable of stopping a bullet fired from a rifle.

Skifstad’s organization is invited to law enforcement agencies where he familiarizes them with the kind of protection they will be wearing and then helps them in raising the funds necessary to make the purchase.

In the case of ACSO, the total tab for the vests was $42,000, a fundraising goal that was met by a large donation from an anonymous donor plus, Skifstad says, “a lot of $5, $10 and $20 donations that really added up.”

The vests currently worn by ACSO deputies are constructed of ceramic and, according to ACSO Sheriff Robert Jackson, are only capable of stopping a bullet from a handgun – once.

“After one bullet,” Jackson told the Valley Courier, “the ceramics shatter. “

The Alamosa County commissioners were on hand for the presentation, with Commissioner Arlan Van Ry saying that, after seeing Alamosa Police Department receive the vests, “it was really on [his] heart to get those for the county deputies. They’re out in the country where more people have guns. And they may not know what is waiting for them at the end of a hundred-yard driveway.”

Van Ry also added that the latest spike in violence had him “scared” the deputies wouldn’t get the vests in time.

Before asking the deputies to come stand behind the vest with their name on it, Skifstad told a riveting story of the day he was a responder on-site of the Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs where a lone gunman carried out a mass shooting over a four-to-five-hour period.

At that time, he did not have a vest like the ones he was presenting to the ACSO deputies, but it was clear that experience motivated him to make it his mission that other officers would not find themselves so vulnerable.

Skifstad, who is a man of faith, also spent some time talking to the deputies about what thoughts and prayers went through his mind during the shooting, further underlining how crucial the right protection is in a job like law enforcement.

The vests the deputies were issued are known as “angel armor” and “provide all-day rifle protection for first responders who sacrificially serve our communities.”

When asked to comment, Commissioner Van Ry said, “It was something that was laid on my heart that our deputies to make sure our deputies were protected and God works in mysterious ways with anonymous donors contributing and the community doing their part. It’s one more layer of protection that just might save a life.”

When asked what the vests meant to him, Sheriff Jackson got “choked up.”  “This is amazing that, in a small community like this, people can come together. I’m just so glad that it came together, and we could make it happen for these guys. They’ll be a lot safer now.”