Possible Changes to Police Uniforms in Montreal, Canada

Tuesday 11th of September 2007 11:17:16 PM

After years of wearing light blue uniforms, police in Montreal, Canada may be switching to dark blue/black shirts. There are several reasons for the switch including complaints from some police officers who stated that the light blue shirts glowed in the dark which endangered their safety. Toronto police department historian, Mike Sale, said the shirts were “almost florescent” in the darkness. Other police departments including Toronto and many departments in Quebec have also changed the colour of their uniforms to dark blue/black for this and other reasons.

But not all Montreal police feel the lighter colour shirts pose a threat. "If any piece of equipment presented a danger, it would be taken off immediately," said Inspector Paul Chablo, a spokesperson for the Montreal Police Department. He also said that there is no research supporting this claim. For now, Montreal police uniforms will stay the same colour. This has made many officers happy because they feel they are more approachable and accepted by the public when wearing lighter coloured clothing.

Another issue that concerns police departments throughout Canada is being able to distinguish police officers from other types of security officers. By switching to darker coloured shirts, police could be mistaken and vice versa. There have been studies conducted and one possible solution is to designate one or two colours to be used to identify police uniforms. Another solution is to distinguish officers by rank by issuing several uniform colours.

(c)Federico Belloli, www.sxc.hu