Personal protective equipment (SIB) – bulletproof vests as objects of ballistic and medical-forensic research

Introduction. The cases of gunshot injuries (wounds) of persons using personal protective equipment (body armor based on textile and composite organoplastic armor), that occur in investigative and expert practice, require a comprehensive approach to diagnostic studies of traces and injuries, both on the human body and on non-biological objects (materials of body armor and clothing items). Methodology and results of the study. The organization of studies of gunshot injuries on the human body and on the means of individual armor protection is possible in the form of a comprehensive medical and forensic examination or a complex of forensic medical and criminalistic examinations. In the course of diagnostic complex studies of gunshot injuries on the human body, materials of his or her body and clothing items, the circumstances of causing a gunshot wound to a person are confirmed with an explanation of the mechanism of damage formation on the human body, body armor and clothing items. Discussion of results. The methodology (algorithm) of studies of gunshot injuries of SIB – bulletproof vests does not diff er from traditional comprehensive medical and forensic studies of gunshot injuries on a person’s body and items of his or her clothing, but it requires taking into account the structural features of personal protective equipment that aff ect the volume and morphological signs of personal protective equipment injuries (including taking into account the protection class of a particular instance of the body armor under study). As a result of the study of the SIB – bulletproof vest, important circumstances of causing a person a gunshot injury can be established and explained – the mechanism of damage formation on the body and objects of the personal protective equipment and clothing of the victim, the posture of the victim at the time of injury, the presence of combined bodily injuries on the victim’s body, if there is a projectile that caused the injury or its fragments extracted from the parts of the personal protective equipment, the causes and mechanism of deformation of the projectile or the causes of its fragmentation (dismantling).