Law Enforcement Uniforms for Personnel Recognition

Of all the professions that we have a full expectation of the employee wearing a uniform, law enforcement is probably a close second to the medical field.  However, if is very important that our law enforcement personnel wear a uniform. 

Of course depending on which agency or department you are talking about there can be great differences between the law enforcement uniforms wore in each one. The uniform for law enforcement personnel is very complex and tends to include just about every piece you might wear except the shoes.  The rest of the uniform usually is contained in one package.

Most uniforms for law enforcement include pants, shirt, tie, hat and belt.  Almost all men and women that are required to wear uniforms will have all these pieces.  In the case of this profession the uniform is either supplied by the police department or there is a vendor by which the employee has to get their uniforms from. 

It is not very often that these law enforcement uniforms are available on the open market.  The desire to keep the badges and other insignias close to the department is important enough that the production of the uniforms is pretty secure.  This is so anyone can’t just get a uniform and impersonate a cop, you have to show proof to the vendor they do business with.

There are a few different styles of law enforcement uniforms.  Almost every one of them includes a hat and top and bottom.  For the top there are many short sleeved styles as well as long sleeved for winter.  There are also the pull over sweaters that have the =insignias on them and in some cases some tee shirts.  The short and long sleeved shirts are almost all button down and in many cases have two breast pockets.  

One of the things about law enforcement uniforms is that they usually need to be dry cleaned.  This tends to annoy the officers since dry cleaning is not cheap.  Lately the style that has been coming out is more permanent press easy to wash instead of the old wool/cotton blend.  Cotton, permanent press is the order of the day now.  This is good for the employee because not only are they easily cleaned but they tend to last longer so there is less of a need to buy new uniforms.  It is very convenient as well as very functional and tends to make caring for them much easier.

Like all uniforms that any employee is required to wear, making the uniform comfortable and well fitting are probably the two most important traits.  For many the fact that the uniform is a button down shirt and a pair of pants automatically put it in the “okay to wear” category. 

Law enforcement uniforms are only the shell for all the other equipment that the officer has to put on.  Making sure that their first layer is comfortable is not a bad way to start.  After all the other stuff goes on it is the one thing that officer can be happy about having on.