American Police Uniforms?...............

[cat woman]

This is a question for our American ABer's, here in England our Police Force all wear the same style and colour uniform, and drive the same marked police cars, why after watching an American "COPS" program that in different cities in America the Police Force wear different colour's, and the police cars are in different too.

I would have thought that it would be more cheaper and feasible, to issue all the police with the same outfit and vehicle.

Thank you in advance for any replies. X X X :-)

[kempie]

You have based part of this question on a faulty premise.

"English" police do not drive vehicles with standardised markings. You can view sample variations of the livery used by the many UK police forces here...

http://www.ukpolicecars.co.uk/

[JillP]

I would say that the reason for the various types of uniform and police cars is that the U.S.A. is made up of different States, much in the same way as Canada is made up of Provinces and Territories. Here in Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are a Federal Police Force and have the same uniform and cars in whichever Province they serve in. The Ontario Provincial Police are a Provincial Police Force and so have their own uniform, as do the various City Police Forces. The police uniform in the United Kingdom is standard as it is a National Police Force.

[kempie]

The UK does not have a "National" Police Force. You can view the regional Police Forces (and their jurisdictional areas) here...

http://www.police.uk/forces/default.asp

[Catso]

I think you are being a little unreasonable with cat woman.

Yes, there are minor differences in forces' car liveries, but I think it true to say that wherever you are in the UK, you know a/ a policeman and b/ a police car when you see them. The similarities far outweigh the differences.

[kempie]

I think it's true to say that wherever you are in the US, you know a/ a policeman and b/ a police car when you see them (even though they may wear different uniforms and drive differently marked vehicles).

The original question makes the case that UK Police Forces have the same vehicle livery thus reducing the expense of different (or even similar!) liveries. This is clearly incorrect.

[kempie]

Example UK liveries...

Essex
Hampshire
Surrey
Sussex

[saxy_jag]

I think there are three types of police in the US too - Federal, State and Sheriff's depts., and I think Sheriffs generally wear brown.

What the difference is between the three, I wouldn't know.

[cat woman]

Thank you Catso for for your support it is greatly appreiated. X X X :-)

[Catso]

And only sexy_jag has answered the part of the question about uniforms.

kempie, don't all UK police wear the same uniform? Apart from badges, perhaps. And the shirt colour in London?

[Catso]

And, come to think of it, I don't think it would be true to say you would always know a police car in the US except for the fact it says 'Police' on it. They do have vastly different color(!) schemes and markings. (From what I've seen on TV)

[kempie]

Catso...

Firstly, if you read my first response you will see no reference to uniforms. In fact all of my replies are based on the incorrect assertion that UK Police Forces use standardised vehicle markings.

Secondly, both saxy_jag and JillP gave answers in regard of different uniforms. BTW neither has received a star rating for their submissions; the only person (so far) to receive that accolade is yourself.

Thirdly, your last two replies makes no sense... they both contain contradictions.

...same uniform? Apart from...

... I don't think it would be true to say you would always know a police car in the US except for...

[Catso]

Ha, so you admit it. You didn't in fact answer the part of the question about uniforms. As I said: "only sexy_jag has answered the part of the question about uniforms". My point was that you seemed to be ignoring the high level of similarity in UK police uniforms because it didn't fit in with your hypothesis that all UK police forces were different. You only answered half the original question.

Surely a badge isn't a uniform. The first online definition I came across was "n. an identifying outfit or style of dress worn by the members of a given profession, organization, or rank". And outfit (to me) means clothes. Therefore any badge would be excluded from the definition of uniform. I mean, if you included badges, then you could say the army doesn't wear a uniform.

I only included the London shirts because I forsaw that some pedantic people would say " but in London they can wear different coloured shirts". So I was just heading off that comment. Actually, I believe (not sure) that the shirt colour is an option rather than a compulsion.

And I mentioned the word 'police' because that seems to be the only thing US police cars have in common. They seem to have all white, pale blue, dark blue, the famous black & white and probably others. I wasn't using the existence of the word on the car as an exception.

Do correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe all UK standard police patrol cars are (in underlying body colour) white. They all have the same colour chequerboard (or they are supposed to, anyway). There are differences in other logos. But not to the extent that (myself, anyway) have ever seen one and thought "is that a police car?"

[kempie]

Have you read any of my posts?

My response was never about uniforms, only that the question contains a false premise about UK patrol cars.

Please point out the section where I deny the "high level of similarity in UK police uniforms".

If you bothered to check any of the links I supplied, you will clearly see that not all UK police cars have the blue/yellow chequerboard design.

This reply, once again, is limited to police car livery and nothing else.

[kempie]

... and why do you still deny that JillP "has answered the part of the question about uniforms"?