Can local company’s new bullet resistant glass protect schools, government buildings?

HUNTING VALLEY, Ohio (WJW) – Officers from multiple agencies as well as area school representatives gathered on Tuesday, putting a local company’s bullet resistant glass to the test.

Garfield Heights-based Harbor Labs’ new technology puts what they call a ‘nano-armor’ on glass panes that can be fitted to school buildings, government buildings and commercial structures.

One of its applications prevents the shattering of windows by individuals using even a crowbar or a metal baseball bat to protect property from smash and grab break-ins.

But another of its applications provides a bullet resistant glass that the company says can buy precious time if someone were to try to shoot their way into a school building as a gunman did in Newtown, Connecticut in December of 2012.

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“It buys time for people to evacuate, it buys time for the police officers to drive away and in that essence it provides something that nothing can provide, which again is time,” said Harbor Labs Managing Partner Dr. Bill Kedia.

“What that means is we can stop bullets as much as coming from an AR-15, depending on the application to handguns, .45 caliber, you name it, up to a semi-automatic rifle. We have the ability to stop those bullets with our products,” he said.

On Tuesday, officer John Richards of the Gates Mills Police Department fired a 9mm handgun at a 1/2 inch thick piece of glass treated with the company’s film.

The first shot shattered some of the glass but did not penetrate the film on the back.

Four more shots were fired with the same result.

But while projectiles cannot penetrate from the outside of the glass, Kedia says it is engineered so that an officer can fire at a perpetrator from the other side.

“The unique thing about this architectural glass is that, we call it a one-way glass. So it’s interesting in that people can’t shoot in, but somebody from the inside can shoot out. It’s very unique. There’s no other glass product that can do this,” said Kedia.

A single shot fired from the reverse side of the glass did put a hole in a paper target behind it.

Next, the company brought out a 3/4″ thick piece of glass with nine layers of its film on it to see how well it stops a semi-automatic rifle round.

Multiple .223 rounds from an AR-15 rifle were fired at the glass with the same result.

The company is also capable of custom fitting its bullet resistant glass to the windshield of a police cruiser and to the front side windows to help protect an officer from a fatal ambush.

“A lot of times in areas where cops are just sitting and we have mobile data terminals, they are doing reports things like that. You kind of have to have your head on a swivel. You could be just sitting there running traffic and somebody could come up and just shoot,” said Chief Michael Cannon of Hunting Valley.

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Officer Richards fired multiple rounds from a 9mm handgun at a sample pane of the car glass, emptying a magazine, replacing it and firing additional shots before any of the bullets penetrated.

“You know, as you can see here, you have the glass stopping a bullet, stopping a rifle round and stopping a pistol round, so if you could put that in a place a patrol car or a school or any building that carries public, if we can keep them safe and it’s cost effective to do so, then it’s a no brainer,” said Richards.

Kedia, who is also a medical doctor with a family practice, says his company is already working to outfit several of the Summit County Sheriff’s Office cruisers with the glass.

He is hoping to get the attention of state lawmakers to help provide funding that can help get his company’s products in more schools.

“I’m from Cleveland. I trained at Metro. I trained at the Clinic. I trained at Akron General. I’ve been around the block for a while. I’ve seen first hand with my own two eyes what gun violence does. We have had children in my practice who have been shot, so anything that we can do, anything that I can do to protect. Honestly, my number one focus has always been kids from this perspective, second has been police,” said Kedia.

He says his bullet resistant glass is far less expensive, lighter weight and more effective than the traditional polycarbonate, or layered bullet resistant glass used in many commercial applications.

But cost is certainly always a factor.

“That’s kind of the elephant in the room because it is expensive, but what’s the number for safety? So, it’s always a tough one. It’s a balancing act,” said Chief Gregg Minicello of Gates Mills.

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