In the summertime I'll usually wear khakis and a polo. In cooler weather the polo changes to a button-down (long-sleeve). I only do the suit and tie thing if I have court that day.
Duty gun in an ALS with WML, spare magazine, and cuffs always. I put on the radio when going out of the office. Badges have to be easily visible (on belt, or around neck is arguably better).
I agree; I want it fairly obvious I'm a cop if I'm out and about. My job is plain clothes but it isn't UC.
Andy
If you knew you were going to be in a fight for your life tomorrow, what would you change today?
You can beat the cost of khaki's/dockers playing the sales at, for one Dillards and they have a very decent assortment of comfortable slacks. Looks more professional and you really, really don't get that much more service out of khakis. Same with their Gold Label shirts. Easy to care for, well made shirts. Realistically if you end up trashing your clothes in a line of duty incident most agencies will reimburse.
Never hurts to look better than average.
I think the low profile thing is a really bad idea. There's a pretty extensive history of blue on blue incidents, where guys out of uniform have unfortunately become victims due to not being recognized as police by officers in uniform. On a good day it's handcuffs and hurt feelings, and it goes down hill from there. I think there's some wisdom to a plain clothes "uniform", i.e. Department polo, khakis and raid/police jacket, in that it's easier in a high stress incident to start the process of discerning "friend from foe" from big picture to small details.
My department did test a couple years ago, where they were having officers in uniform were being pitted against plain clothes officers, only using a badge for ID, doing building searches. A lot of guys in plain clothes got shot with sim rounds. It was pretty clear that when faced with an armed subject that officers weren't scanning their suspects head to toe for a badge, and that a badge is just a chunk of metal that's hard to see. It was also pretty clear that guys out of uniform had a difficult time remembering that they knew they were one of the good guys, but no one else had a reasonable expectation to know that. Out of that we got issued raid jackets and some revisions on how plain clothes officers operate in the field.
If you want to be recognizable as a cop or anticipate getting involved in stuff, wear a uniform, a bat-belt, and armor.
If you want or need to be discreet, distinguished from unis as you go about your work, you're a citizen CCWing or an off-duty cop. Don't count on a badge on your belt or around your neck, or an embroidered unit polo to ID you. Oh yeah, and conceal your gear. If you need to participate in something, jock up loud and proud in a raid jacket and armor. Otherwise, you're out of it.
A lot of this is folks wanting to eat their cake and have it too, and there's a lot of talking out of both sides of our mouths. We bang on open carry, yet entire back office staffs will do it relying on some absolution provided by a badge or a polo shirt. We'd bang on a uni that won't wear armor as being a tactifool, yet Obvious B. PoloCop from upstairs isn't armored.
Traditions, badges of office, and sacred cows...but are we being honest with ourselves?
Last edited by ST911; 09-07-2014 at 07:05 PM.
الدهون القاع الفتيات لك جعل العالم هزاز جولة الذهاب
Excellent point and well said.Originally Posted by Skintop911
If you knew you were going to be in a fight for your life tomorrow, what would you change today?
Sorry it has taken me awhile to check back on this thread. We have a neighboring county that requires that Detectives wear a full uniform. My Chief of Police has thought about that option as in his mind the officer safety issue of non-lethal and blue on blue shooting would no longer exist for the most part. I do not agree that carrying a gun exposed along with a badge lessen my chance of an assault by an offender and in my experience (6 years undercover, 9 years patrol, and 2 years general investigations) in this area, that is not the case. I have had very good success with having more cooperation from people by not exposing my weapon and identity by my manner of dress but by stating who I am and identifying myself by my credential and then putting them away. People seem to be less embarrassed by me being there and usually invite me in when otherwise I would not have been.
Saying all that I did have a suspect draw a "airsoft" gun on me in another jurisdiction for "looking at his car". That situation ended badly for him but never the less I see the argument. I blame my momentary lack of awareness as I was more focused on photographing the car and less focused on who was coming at me from behind. I do not believe having an exposed gun or badge would have prevented him doing what he did as I was facing away from him and he came at from behind.
In reference to the blue-on-blue possibility. I carry a neck badge, and a bright neon green vest marked police as well as everything else that has "POLICE" on it in my car. Having worked undercover for 6 years I am well aware of what I need to do to protect myself from getting shot by my own team and I act accordingly. The first rule is to not place yourself in that situation without positively identifying myself by a piece of uniform that clearly states what team I am on.
I guess the general point of asking is to see if anyone had a "business casual" outfit that they'd recommend specifically for a subdued profile while working. The tucked in polo does not lend itself to that role and the untucked shirt sometimes looks rather "frumpy". A jacket is typically to hot and a sweater vest does not work in the summer. I was just looking for other options if someone had any.
I certainly respect everyone's opinions on the matter I am just comfortable with my actions and mannerisms enough that I feel confident that the subdued business casual would work for me. Your experience may be different and I respect that.
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