WINTER HAVEN | Wearing a protective vest is now mandatory for Polk County deputies as a result of a spate of shootings in recent years that have injured and killed officers.

The vests have long been optional at the agency, in part because many deputies find them to be uncomfortable beneath their polyester uniforms in the heat. During the summer, it can sap a deputy's energy, Sheriff Grady Judd said.

"They are uncomfortable to the point of debilitating," he said.

But to make the mandatory-wear policy more palatable to deputies, the agency is distributing new vest covers that allow deputies to wear the armor outside their uniforms.

Deputies can more easily open them to cool down.

The Polk County Sheriff's Office made an initial purchase of more than 750 vest covers in June, paying for them with about $95,000 in court-awarded money seized in drug investigations.