page_title: Police uniforms in the United States
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Police uniforms in the United States / History
caption_attribution_description: English: NY Metropolitan police uniforms, July 1871
context_page_description: Police uniforms in the United States vary widely due to the nation's tradition of highly decentralized law enforcement. Over time, however, a number of general conventions and styles have become representative of American police fashion. Police officers wear uniforms to deter crime by establishing a visible presence while on patrol, to make themselves easily identifiable to non-police officers or to their colleagues who require assistance, and to quickly identify each other at crime scenes for ease of coordination.
context_section_description: Centralized, municipally-managed police departments were unknown in the United States prior to the 1830s. Early law enforcement functions were largely performed by volunteer watchmen as well as elected or appointed constables and sheriffs, who were paid by the fee system for warrants they served. The advent of professional police forces in the United States foreshadowed the introduction of standardized police uniforms. While uniforms for police had been introduced in the United Kingdom as early as 1828, adoption of standardized dress in the United States took longer, with many of the new police objecting to uniforms out of concern they would be subject to public ridicule. Nonetheless, in 1854, the New York City Police Department became the United States' first municipal police force to issue uniforms to its officers. New York City was followed, in 1858, by Boston, Chicago, and soon thereafter, other cities.
  The navy blue uniforms adopted by many police departments in this early period were simply surplus United States Army uniforms from the Civil War. Cover typically took the form of stovepipe hats, a starched woolen head cover similar in appearance to a top hat but with a squatter dimension, or British-style custodian helmets. In rural areas, where preventative policing was limited or non-existent, sheriff's deputies continued to wear civilian attire, using only their badge as a mark of identification. In many states this practice continued well into the following century. The Orange County, California sheriff's office, for instance, did not adopt a uniform until 1938.
  By the early 20th century, the style and form of American police uniforms had essentially settled into its modern pattern of button-up shirts, neckties, slacks and military-style blouses with unbanded collars, all worn with peaked hats. Many early uniforms had loose-fitting jackets that would conceal a police officer's equipment, such as truncheon and sidearm. Beginning in the 1930s, officers more frequently began wearing their personal gear on a Sam Browne belt worn outside the coat, for ease of access.
  One of the biggest evolutionary experiments in police uniform design began in 1969, when the police department in Menlo Park, California moved away from typical police uniforms, opting instead for a dress style designed to better emulate civilian fashion trends and communicate a "softer" appearance. The new uniforms consisted of green blazers, black slacks, a white shirt and black necktie. Officers wore their weapons concealed under their coats. Many other police departments soon followed the Menlo Park lead. In psychological tests, it was discovered police - after using the new uniform - displayed less authoritarian personality characteristics. In addition, civilians and suspects injured during arrests by police dropped by 50-percent and assaults on officers by suspects also plummeted by nearly a third. Despite these initially promising signs, however, it was subsequently determined that other factors, including increased police recruitment of college graduates and adoption of more responsive management techniques, had probably accounted for the statistical shifts. By the eighth year of the uniform experiment, assaults on police had more than doubled from what they were prior to the dress change and the "civilian" style uniforms were subsequently dropped.
caption: Uniforms of the New York City Police Department in 1871
exif: {}