Lex Anteinternet: Standards of Dress. The police. A semi topical post

Quite a while ago, I posted this item on police uniforms:  Lex Anteinternet: Standards of Dress. The police. A semi topical post.

In that post, I trace that topic, and I touch upon the uniforms worn by sheriffs departments.

This turns out to be a currently popular human interest story around the nation, and as I just learned from some of my friends in Latin America, the story has spread overseas.  More specifically, the story of Sublette County Sheriff's Deputy Gene Bryson has received widespread distribution.  He's retiring over a disagreement with Sublette County Sheriff Stephen Haskell about uniforms.

Bryson is a 70 year old deputy.  That's way up there, and if he was a Federal law enforcement officer he would have had to retire a decade ago.  At one time at least law enforcement officers employed by the State of Wyoming also had to retire at that age, i.e., 60, but a lawsuit filed by a Game Warden some years ago resulted in that being changed by judicial fiat.  That's not really relevant to this story, however.  I'm just noting it.

What motivated Bryson to retire is that Haskell mandated a change in the Sublette County Sheriff Department's uniform and eliminated cowboy boots and cowboy hats in favor of duty boots and baseball caps.  Bryson, whose worn cowboy boots and hats his entire career, declined to go along with the change and opted to retire.

Frankly, he has a bit of a point, although Haskell has one too.

The point Haskell has is with the boots.  Cowboy boots make poor duty boots, and even though many sheriff's officers have worn them over the years, they're more appropriate as dress items for law enforcement officers and other agencies than they are as duty boots.  I wear them a fair amount (and there's a draft thread on them in the hopper that, like many draft threads here, has been there for eons), but as far as field use goes, they're only really a good item if you intend to ride a horse, or might have to. Even at that, "packers" are a better choice for a mounted service boot. Cowboy boots are slippery in wet or slick weather, they're difficult or at least unnatural to run in, and they don't provide much ankle protection to the wearer.  Duty boots, although usually law enforcement agencies choose the lightest doofiest ones going, are a better option.

Not baseball hats.

I own my fair share of baseball hats, but they're a crappy and sloppy looking uniform item.  Indeed, while they're convenient for many things, that's about all they are. They have no insulation value, they don't protect from the snow, rain and sun like a broad brimmed hat does.  And as a rule, when a uniformed officer is wearing one, he looks out of uniform.

Now, I do have my fair share of these, and some of them are pretty neat.  But I'm not arresting anyone either, and in spite of the fact that some lawyers now do, I don't wear them into the courthouse.  And if I'm in a role where I need outdoor protection from the elements, I go with a broad brimmed hat.

While on this, I'll note also that there's an interesting trend for law enforcement and fire personnel to be issued what we used to call "paratrooper pants", or more recently cargo pants.  At some point that too is more than a bit over done.

Trousers like that weren't even worn by any army anywhere up until World War Two, but the fluid nature of that war, combined with the need for some soldiers to be carry loads of items, i.e., paratroopers, lead to the adoption of cargo pants by the U.S. Army for paratroopers in the early 1940s.  In 1943 these were adopted for all soldiers in the European Theatre of Operations in the form of the M1943 combat pants, that were to be worn over the standard wool pants (any time you see a paratrooper, or other U.S. soldier in Europe with cargo pants, he almost certainly is wearing wool pants underneath them).  After the war, the M1943 pants were retained, with new designations, as field pants, replacing other patterns still in use, and during the Vietnam War the same pattern was adopted for the Tropical Combat Uniform.  When the Army adopted the Battle Dress Uniform in the early 80s, they became the standard cotton trouser for soldiers, and Marines, and have remained so ever since in varying forms. For some reason, police departments have gone to them too, even though most police patrolmen are motorized and really don't need a lot of pockets. Sheriff's offices have started using them, and even fire departments do. It's probably a bit much.

Anyhow, I will note that Haskell's actions aren't wholly without logic, regarding the caps, as most officers are vehicle patrolmen now days, and a cowboy hat is inconvenient in a vehicle. And this follows a recent tread of services, including the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, British Army and Australian Army, of issuing baseball caps for patrol caps. So, even though they lack insulation value and don't do anything other than provide a visor, I somewhat get it.  But, countering that, a fair number of law enforcement agencies, to include the Wyoming Highway Patrol, have gone the other way in recent years and noted the value of brimmed hats.  The WYHP, for example, went from wheelhouse caps, which it had worn since its inception, to "smokey bear", or M1911 style campaign hats, so they can be used even by a highly motorized agency.