Police force to abandon 'Gender Neutral' headwear

[NancyDrawed]

Small steps....

Lancashire Police Force introduced baseball caps for officers six years ago

From the article:

The force is just the latest to axe baseball caps which have been likened to a 'Burger King' uniform by some critics who complained they made officers 'look like Jimmy Krankie'.

Northamptonshire Police paid more than £23,000 to introduce baseball caps after research suggested the new headwear would eradicate the issue of transgender officers having to decide between custodian helmets for males and bowler hats for females.

But two years later, Chief Constable Nick Adderley said they did not 'not portray the right image'.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11140003/Flat-hats-beat-police-force-ditches-baseball-caps-traditional-headwear.html

I wonder where the 'research' Northants used originated?

I view the police as an equally serious and vital job like the military. The purpose of their every day clothing is to be comfortable and practical and recognisable to the public. The priority is not necessarily to look good. Public services are supposedly stretched thin in recent years in terms of resources and funding. It may be more cost effective to have a standard uniform?

Now there might be ceremonial police clothing like the military that gets used on special occasions, and that tends to be different for men and women as usually there's some historical reason for why the outfit has a certain design and look, and yes it's also about looking good.

I didn't get the sense the news article was about a set of ceremonial uniforms that get used once in a blue moon, otherwise they wouldn't have switched to baseball caps in the first place. It's about their everyday uniform.

I don't know - I'm not a hat expert. Just seems awfully wasteful spending so much money going back and forth with different types of hats at a time when there isn't enough policing to tackle crime and other issues.

This is the Daily Mail shit-stirring.

The primary motive to bring in bump hats was budgetary. Obviously this hasn't worked out.

It might have had the side effect of "being more inclusive", but that wasn't the main point.

www.itv.com/news/anglia/2017-05-10/northamptonshire-police-replace-traditional-hats-with-baseball-cap-style-protective-headgear - new caps "significantly cheaper"

Interesting discussion about police 'looking good.' I, like most people no doubt, want - expect - police officers to look smart but if women and men wear identical uniforms despite a PP clarifying that wouldn't work well for both sexes, only one group will be smart and I guarantee the uniform will be default male style. So women police officers would deliberately be put at a disadvantage as far as public perception goes.

Thinking more about a single uniform set to default male style, could there be a safety risk to women? You can't just size down body armour for example so would it be the same for helmets? I know this example is probably wrong, I'm just making it up, but eg say one helmet design protects male heads better by dispersing force where the skull is thinnest while helmets for women need to be different to protect the most vulnerable parts of their heads with the dome in a different place or reinforced sides instead.

You don't default internal fit, you do default the external hat appearance.

The current helmet difference is not about protection.

Both current helmets are fucking stupid, tbh.

From this in the Eye, we should also be concerned as to what's inside their headwear:

twitter.com/mr_gillard/status/1562516574317060098?s=21&t=repCIduwfu3YTpTipFikfg

Urgh fgs.

The police uniform should be functional and protective where possible . That may or may not mean that they need to be designed differently for men and women as their body make ups are different and any protective parts will need to be in the right places.

Ideally headgear should also protect their heads.

Personally worrying about baseball hat vs bowler cap is a waste of time. The police are not viewed the way they are cos of a baseball hat. Its because of how they have behaved. If you want respect then start abiding by the laws you are meant to be enforcing. Not stonewall made up laws.

If I need you police I don't give a shit what you are wearing I just want you to come and remove this hobo thats screaming at me instead of leaving it to members of the public to protect us.

Not only are there no funds to allow the police to do their jobs despite being enough to pay stonewall. You are now also prioritising paying for hats over anything else that money could be used for.

Absolutely clueless about how this appears 🙄

But it would affect external design. And even if it didn't you'd still end up with men looking smart in a flatteringly cut and styled uniform and women looking untidy, which affects public perception. Women in responsible jobs deserve to look smart in their mandatory uniforms.

Have you ever worn a uniform in a regular job? It's a bit shitty to go to work every day in something that's unflattering. And it often looks less professional.

What is the real gain from saying the uniforms have to be exactly identical? That people won't realize that there are two sexes in the job? That somehow they will think, oh, they must be equally good at the job since they are wearing the same thing? Neither of those are logical thought processes.

This is an area that has been focused on in a way that doesn't actually have much payoff. It doesn't prevent sexism in workplaces.