What to Do with Police Uniforms From The Bill

Wednesday 13th of October 2010 02:32:43 AM

The Bill was the longest run crime series in the UK. This past August it finally ended on ITV but only after 27 years of shows. One of the reasons the show was so popular was because it was so close to reality with the actors wearing perfect copies of police clothing and using equipment that looked like the real thing. Even the police uniforms included exact copies of the real insignia. So when the show ended, an unusual problem arose. What do you do with the police clobber?

There are plenty of people who would love to get their hands on the realistic looking police equipment and clothing. The equipment includes body armour, police caps, trousers, pullovers and jackets.

The answer was soon known because the Metropolitan police decided to buy most of the items for two good reasons. First is the fact the equipment will be kept off the black market. Second is the fact, the police can actually use the equipment themselves.

Though it is illegal to impersonate a police officer, that doesn’t stop criminals from doing so. Such authentic looking police equipment would have a high value to those criminals. Just last year the Met recovered 100 fake police uniforms. Though the price of the equipment purchased from The Bill is higher priced than the real thing, the Met believed it was worth the money to keep the fakes off the street. Drug dealers like to wear police uniforms to score drugs undercover of legitimacy.

It seems the police today have to use all kinds of tactics in order to keep society safe. The Met budget couldn’t really afford to purchase the equipment thanks to budget cuts, but decided to do so in the interest of protecting citizens.