Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Beyond parody

It's bad enough that the MoD are employing anti-fur designers to come up with an alternative "fake" bearskin for the Guards to wear at ceremonial parades - does anyone else see the irony in that? - but this latest uniform revelation is beyond a joke.

Maternity uniforms are to be made available to pregnant officers and staff in the Cumbria [police] force.

Accompanying the article is very unflattering picture of Detective Constable Tracey Laurie dressed in what appears to be a badly cut chef's jacket which tends to make her look like the cook who ate all the pies.

Leaving aside the obvious - that a DC doesn't actually wear a uniform on a daily basis anyway - the uniform of a police officer is supposed to present an image of authority and draw respect from the general public. It is hard to see how looking like a fat chef will do that.

It's bad enough that so many of our police officers walk around in dayglo vests (should they ever deign to get out of their cars) making them virtually indistinguishable from a street cleaner, but now they are going to allow the female officers like this. No wonder respect for the police continues to nosedive.

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