BUILT FROM THE FIELD THE FIELD
For John Dapkins and Nick Klementowicz, the purpose behind Jersey Tactical has always been clear: a first responder cannot help the person on the other side of a door if they cannot get through it. “You can buy the most expensive gear and send someone to the best training in the world,” Dapkins says, “but if you cannot get in, you cannot save lives. Period.” That reality became the foundation of Jersey Tactical. Jersey Tactical was never built around what looked impressive in a catalog or at a trade-show booth. Its products grew from the firsthand experience of two men who spent years working in environments where equipment had to perform under pressure and where failure could carry consequences far greater than inconvenience. Klementowicz served in the Marine Corps, later worked as a bounty hunter and built a long career in law enforcement, tactical operations and SWAT. Dapkins came through patrol, narcotics, investigations and SWAT, spending 12 years on a regional team. Their experiences after two of America’s most significant disasters sharpened that perspective further. Dapkins spent approximately six months working in and around Ground Zero after September 11, while Klementowicz responded after Hurricane Katrina. “I broke every single breaching tool that was made at the time,” Klementowicz says of Katrina. Dapkins remembers equipment arriving after 9/11 that bent, snapped or had to be improvised together because it could not withstand the work being asked of it. Those experiences helped give rise to the phrase that would become central to Jersey Tactical’s philosophy: “If you can’t get in, you can’t save anyone.”
THE JERSEY CLAW
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2026 DISASTERS & RESILIENT CITY EXPO HOUSTON EDITION
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