The chain does not close until end of life is proven.
A retired vest that is simply thrown away can be recovered, resold, and worn by someone who trusts it. ArmorTrack turns end of life into a tracked event with four accountable paths, each producing a per-serial record that closes the custody chain instead of leaving a gap where the proof should be.
Every retirement ends one of four ways.
Which path an item takes depends on its condition, your policy, and whether the material has recoverable value. All four are recorded per serial. None of them ends with an item quietly leaving the register.
Retire
Remove an item from service and keep it, for training, display, or a pending investigation. It leaves the issuable pool immediately so it can never be re-assigned by mistake.
Trade-in
Return retired armor to a manufacturer or programme for credit toward replacements. The credit is only defensible if the old item is verifiably destroyed on the other end, so the record travels with it.
Recycle
Recover aramid, polyethylene, ceramic, and carrier materials through a processing stream. Recycling is never reuse as armor: the item is destroyed first, then the material is recovered.
Certified destruction
The item is rendered permanently non-functional at a certified facility, verified per serial, and closed with a certificate a third party can check without an ArmorTrack account.
Retire and trade-in are included for every account. Certified destruction and recycling are quoted per job, because materials physically leave your custody and are handled by a certified facility. Nothing is charged until you approve the quote. See disposition pricing.
Five steps, and none of them can be skipped.
A disposition job is a custody transfer, so the flow enforces its own prerequisites. You cannot advance past a step that has not collected what the next one needs.
Select items
Only owned, non-disposed units are selectable, so nothing can be disposed twice or on someone else’s behalf.
Choose the path
Retire, trade-in, recycle, or certified destruction. Destruction and recycling require a certified facility before the step will advance.
Transfer custody
Facility, tracking reference, and notes are recorded. The items move to in-transit and leave the issuable pool.
Verify per serial
The facility confirms each serial individually. A batch confirmation is not a per-item fact and is not treated as one.
Close with proof
The certificate is issued, attached to every item’s history, and the chain segment is marked terminal.
Proof a third party can check, without an account.
A certificate is only worth something if the person relying on it can verify it themselves. Every ArmorTrack certificate carries an ID and a public verification address, so an auditor, a grant administrator, or a manufacturer honouring a trade-in can confirm it independently.
Illustrative certificate. A real one is generated from the job record and verified at its own address.
The certificate shows
- Item identity: model, serial, protection level, manufacturer of record
- Destruction facts: method, date and time, facility and its certification
- Certificate metadata: ID, issue date, verification address
It withholds
- Officer identity, always. It never travels upstream
- Commercial values, pricing, and contract terms
- The upstream custody chain above the disposition
A certificate is a public document by design, so it carries only what the recipient legitimately needs. Everything else stays in your account, visible to the roles you granted it to.
Disposal is the step audits ask about, and the one most programmes cannot answer.
Compromised armor stays out of circulation
Expired or damaged vests that reach a resale market get worn by people who believe they are protected. Verified destruction is the only thing that ends that risk, and the only thing that proves you ended it.
Grant and budget reporting has a source
Replacement cycles funded by a grant usually require evidence that the old equipment was disposed of properly. A per-serial certificate is that evidence, without assembling it from email after the fact.
The register stays true
An item with no recorded end never really leaves the inventory. Counts drift, expiry reports overstate, and nobody can say whether a serial is in a locker or a landfill.
Close the chain on the armor you have already retired.
Disposition is available to every account, including agencies at no cost. You only pay when materials physically leave your custody for certified handling.