Police uniforms and equipment in the United Kingdom

Police uniforms and equipment in the United Kingdom vary enormously per force or service, and different uniforms and equipment is used for different situations. Both what is worn and what is carried have varied considerably from the inception of the earliest recognisable mainstream police services in the early 19th century. As various laws in the mid-19th century standardised policing in the United Kingdom, so too were uniforms and equipment. From a variety of home grown uniforms, bicycles, swords and pistols the British police force evolved in look and equipment through the long coats and top hat, to the recognisable modern uniform of a white shirt, black tie, reflective jackets, body armour, and the battenburg-marked vehicles, to the present-day Airwave Solutions radios, electric vehicles and tasers.

The lists of police uniforms and equipment here are not exhaustive, nor specific for each force, but give a general overview of typical "kit" used in the United Kingdom.

Equipment Various items of equipment are usually carried on the duty belt of uniformed officers, although some have pouches attached to their stab vest, eliminating the need for a belt. Plainclothes officers may wear a harness, which can be worn under clothes. They usually have:

baton (extendable/collapsible) personal radio CS/PAVA incapacitant spray Police notebook (some forces now use electronic notebooks on their police-issued smart phone) Pens Smartphones (for accessing the PNC, issuing tickets and taking statements) Torch Bodycam with audio Leg restraints Rigid cuffs (handcuffs) Taser (specially trained officers, but becoming routinely issued in a few forces)

Extra equipment, such as a first aid kit (including a pocket mask, disposable gloves, germicidal wipes, hypoallergenic tape, wound dressings, a triangular bandage, and sterile plasters), may be stored in a patrol car.

Uniform

For much of the twentieth century up to the mid-1990s, male police officers wore a dark blue (almost black) tunic with polished silver buttons (gold for the City of London Police), and trousers of matching colour with a sewn-in truncheon pocket. No stab vest was worn and much less equipment was carried than is today. Following concerns about police officers' safety, it was suggested that the uniform should be changed.

From the 1990s, it was generally accepted that the police could patrol in "shirt-sleeve order" which meant that they need not wear the jacket, as its widespread use was an impediment in some situations. In 1994, the Home Office, with the co-operation of many chief constables, changed the uniform to black trousers, shirt, blue NATO-style V-neck jumper, stab vest (typically with pockets, pouches and other compartments), service belt (duty belt) and reflective jacket.

Although there are minor variations in the styling, pattern and insignia, the police forces of Great Britain, Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man and Gibraltar all wear very similar uniforms. In general, these have taken their lead from the Metropolitan Police Service, due to it being recognised as the first Home Office police service in England. The base colour is a very dark blue, almost indistinguishable from black (and recently often is black), which earned the police the nickname of the "boys in blue".

Uniform history

The Metropolitan Police officers were unarmed to clearly distinguish them from military enforcers, which had been the system of policing seen before the 1820s. Their uniform was also styled in blue, rather than the military red. Despite the service being unarmed, the then Home Secretary, Robert Peel, gave authorisation to the Commissioner to purchase fifty flintlock pistols, for exceptional incidents that required the use of firearms. As time progressed, the obsolete flintlocks were replaced by early revolvers. At the time, burglary (or "house breaking" as it was then called) was a common problem for police, as house breakers were usually armed. Due to the deaths of officers at the hands of armed criminals in the outer districts of the Metropolis, and after much press coverage debating whether Peel's service should be fully armed, the Commissioner applied to the Home Secretary to supply all officers on the outer districts with revolvers. These could be issued only if, in the opinion of the senior officer, the officer could be trusted to use it safely, and with discretion. From that point, officers who felt the need to be armed, could be so. The practice lasted until 1936, although the vast majority of the system was phased out by the end of the 19th century.

From 1829, to 1839, Metropolitan Police officers wore blue swallowtail coats with high collars to counter garroting. This was worn with white trousers in summer, and a cane-reinforced top hat, which could be used as a step to climb or see over walls. In the early years of the Metropolitan Police, equipment was little more than a rattle to call for assistance,Taylor, J. "The Victorian Police Rattle Mystery" The Constabulary (2003) and a wooden truncheon. As the years progressed, the rattle was replaced with the whistle, swords were removed from service, and flintlock pistols were removed in favour of revolvers. Initially, police constables were required to wear their uniforms at all times, whether they were on duty or not. A cloth brassard or arm band, generally with black and white vertical stripes, known as a "duty band", was worn on the left forearm while on duty and removed at the end of the shift. In an emergency, duty bands could also be issued as the sole item of uniform if large numbers of special constables were required. The City of London Police is the last service to use the duty band.

In 1863, the Metropolitan Police replaced the tailcoat with a tunic, still high-collared, and the top hat with the custodian helmet. With a few exceptions (including the City of London Police, West Mercia Police, Hampshire Constabulary and States of Guernsey Police Service), most forces helmet plates carry a Brunswick star. The helmet itself was of cork-faced with fabric. The design varied slightly between services. Some used the style by the Metropolitan Police, topped with a boss, while others had a helmet that incorporated a ridge or crest terminating above the badge, or a short spike, sometimes topped with a ball. Luton Borough Police (1876-1947) wore a straw helmet in a similar style to the Bermudan police helmet, with a small oval plate. During WW2, all police services wore a plain peaked cap, or a military style steel helmet when appropriate.

The tunic went through many lengths and styles, with the Metropolitan Police adopting the open-neck style in 1948 (although senior and female officers adopted it before that time). Senior officers used to wear peaked pillbox-style caps until the adoption of the wider peaked cap worn today. The custodian helmet was phased out in Scotland in the early 1950s.

Female officers' uniforms have gone through a great variety of styles, as they have tended to reflect the women's fashions of the time. Tunic style, skirt length and headgear have varied by period and force. By the late 1980s, the female working uniform was identical to the male uniform, except for headgear and sometimes neckwear.

Current uniform

Full dress ceremonial The commissioners and other senior-ranked officers of the Metropolitan Police and the City of London Police wear a full dress ceremonial uniform on state and special occasions (e.g. Trooping the Colour). This includes a high-necked tunic with silver or gold trimmings and is worn with a sword and a cocked hat.

Headgear

Basic headgear for police officers is a peaked cap for men and a round bowler style hat for women. Caps and bowlers feature a hat band incorporating the Sillitoe tartan checkerboard design. This band is not worn in the Police Service of Northern Ireland, where female officers also wear a peaked cap of a different pattern.

The custodian helmet is worn on foot duty by male constables and sergeants (outside Scotland and Northern Ireland). There are several patterns, with different forces wearing different types. Although some Scottish forces have used helmets in the past, they are no longer worn in Scotland. West Yorkshire Police abandoned the custodian helmet in 2015. Thames Valley Police abandoned the custodian helmet in 2009 due to budget cuts, but brought them back into service in 2018 due to high demand, instant recognition and popularity with police officers and the public.

Cheshire Police phased out custodian helmets in the 1990s in favour of the peaked cap and bowler hat. These were in turn replaced with baseball caps in 2016. However, in 2021 Chief Constable Mark Roberts brought peaked caps and custodian helmets back into service. Lancashire Police also introduced baseball caps in 2017, followed by Gloucestershire Police in 2019. Northamptonshire Police replaced custodian helmets with a baseball caps in 2017, but reversed this the following year.

West Yorkshire Police and (from May 2018) Hertfordshire Constabulary give female officers the option to wear a peaked cap instead of a bowler if they prefer to do so. Similarly, Staffordshire Police allows female officers to wear custodian helmets for public order duties if they so desire.

As of September 2021, Essex Police no longer restricts any force-issue headwear by gender. Any new officer recruited since may choose between a custodian helmet or bowler hat, plus an additional peaked cap.

Identification The Metropolitan Police approved the use of name badges in October 2003, and new recruits started wearing the Velcro badges in September 2004. The badges consist of the wearer's rank, followed by their surname. Senior officers wear these in no.1 dress, due to the public nature of their role. Introduction of name badges

Northern Ireland

The uniform of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) is bottle green, divergent from the dark blue traditionally used in Great Britain. This reflects the Irish roots of the force, which is descended from the Royal Irish Constabulary, whose uniforms were a very dark green, almost black. Although the colour remained the same, when the Royal Ulster Constabulary was superseded by the Police Service of Northern Ireland in 2001, the term "bottle green" was adopted in the place of "rifle green" as it was seen as having less of a military connotation, in keeping with the spirit of the time. The only other notable difference from the uniforms in Great Britain is that PSNI officers are issued flak jackets in place of the stab vest normally used in Britain. The custodian helmet was never worn by either the RUC or the PSNI, although a similar design known as the "night helmet" was worn on night shifts by the RUC until the early 1970s, and previously by the RIC.

Personal radios Personal radio systems were first issued to police officers and installed in police cars in the 1960s (resulting in the demise of the "police box" telephones made famous by Doctor Who). In 2004, British police forces began change radios from analogue, to digital TETRA (Terrestrial Trunked Radio) system for communications, called Airwave.

Prior to the introduction of Airwave, all police radio systems were force-specific, with limited capacity for forces to talk to neighbours or to facilitate working in groups away from the direction of the control room. Interoperability with other emergency services was also poor, and was criticised in reports after the Hillsborough and Kings Cross disasters. Most forces’ equipment could not transfer data or text messages – a growing operational requirement. Few had any form of encryption and were susceptible to monitoring by anyone prepared to buy cheap scanning equipment. In addition, almost every force had areas in which the police and other emergency services operated without effective radio coverage. Public Safety Radio Communications Project, Martha Woodbridge