ah police officers otherwise known as cops five-o bobbies the fuzz gumshoe
Smokey the Bear well that one's a little dated anyway there's no short supply of
nicknames we have for those who've dedicated their lives to upholding the
law no matter which nickname you use it's likely you have a strong image in
your mind of what a law-enforcement officer looks like shiny metal badge
fully stocked duty belt and of course the unmistakable blue uniform its iconic
and like anything so well known there are reasons that came to be that way
let's look at how police officers became known as the men and women in blue the
first organized police force that resembles the one we know today started
in the UK almost 200 years ago in 1829 a guy named Sir Robert Peel introduced the
Metropolitan Police Act of Parliament forming the first properly trained and
paid Police Department bobbies as London police became known were given this
nickname after Sir Robert Peel arrggh was another one but it didn't quite
stack it's also where we see the first use of officers in blue as the
paramilitary style uniform color was chosen to keep people from confusing it
with the British military uniforms which looks similar but were red and white the
idea was that it would also make officers appear more like a person on
the street keeping them noticeable and approachable simple enough right but how
and why did this look carry over into the US and the way cops dressed today is
it just a simple case of copy and paste yes and not really the first Police
Force is established in the United States where in major cities Boston in
1838 and New York in 1845 this was followed up over the next 20 years with
departments forming in Chicago New Orleans Cincinnati and Philadelphia and
yes pretty much all these police departments fall
the model set by the London police and that included the dark blue uniform but
as the country grew and new cities formed along with new police departments
at some point someone had to try another uniform or color right nope in the early
departments it was simply standard but later the reason they didn't wasn't that
the new departments lacked imagination it just wasn't practical according to
the Los Angeles Police Department their original uniforms came from surplus
Union Army uniforms which happened to be navy blue they thought they look classic
and presented the officer as a person of authority so why spend money on
something no of course the design would change as time marched on but that
classic dark blue color stuck around now in more modern times the reason for it
go well beyond hand-me-down traditions from across the pond for one thing
there's the cleanliness factor dark colors are known for simply being easier
and less expensive to keep looking clean and sharp and if you must keep anywhere
from a few dozen to 30,000 uniforms clean cheap and simple is the only way
to go then there's also the basic tactical advantage a dark uniform gives
an officer at night as it helps keep them from being easily spotted by the
bad guys in certain situations officers in some communities have also noted that
darker blue uniforms simply make them feel safer when they're on patrol at
night and that brings us to the psychology behind the police uniform
what people wear and how they're dressed can't speak volumes fashion wouldn't be
a two point four trillion dollar industry if it didn't sure you may not
consider a cop's uniform the epitome of Haute Couture but it isn't away I mean
where do you think the whole fashion police thing came from jokes aside the
influence that these classically designed uniforms have is undeniable we
don't even know a person is a police officer without the uniform and when
they wear it we don't look at them the same as we would if they were in jeans
and a t-shirt or even a high-end business suit
now we all have our own opinion of what that uniform represents but there's no
doubt that it represents something to everyone
to many it suggests a certain power and authority in a study where people were
asked to rank 25 different Occupational uniforms by how they made them feel the
police uniform was most consistently linked to feelings of safety in another
study models were rated based on their attire and you guessed it the model in a
police uniform was rated as more intelligent reliable and helpful than
the others but you know there is that little feeling of oh I have to be extra
good when you see a cop tell me this if you're stopped at an intersection and
see an officer or cruiser nearby do you sit up straighter and pay extra
attention to all the traffic signals and speed limit signs I know I do over the
years different places have experimented with the look of their police force back
in 1969 Menlo Park California notoriously replaced their traditional
navy blues with a forest green sport coat over black pants a white shirt and
a black tie it sounds more like a used car salesman than a patrol officer
doesn't it nevertheless the idea was that this less militaristic look could
help improve relations within the community and once other departments
heard about this over 400 began experimenting with the Blazer style
uniform too early on the results were a mixed bag at best after a year and a
half Menlo Park officers that were tested showed fewer authoritarian
characteristics than those in surrounding areas so the experiment went
on Menlo Park continued to dress their police officers like this for another
eight years before finally concluding that wearing the same uniform as a local
real estate agent didn't exactly command the respect they were hoping for the
fact was even though some crime had dropped that first year and a half it
started to rise shortly after and before long rates were double than the year
before the change in uniform hey guess what
in the years that follow the switch back to the traditional style those numbers
started getting lower once again coming back around to color there have been
countless psychological tests on how people associate colors with feelings
and mood black is the color most associated with power and strength while
blue goes along with feelings of trust security and comfort we often equate red
with excitement and urgency that's why emergency vehicles use bright red and
white lights to command attention and unlike design the way we perceive color
is very consistent across continents and cultures from Europe to Asia to the
Middle East studies show that light colors are
associated with being weak while darker colors are perceived as strong so
naturally what colors a person wears will likely have some impact on how we
perceive them sports psychologists have done a lot of research and experiments
on how color impacts everything from player performance to how refs call the
game in one study they found that referees were more likely to call
tougher penalties on a football team wearing a black uniform compared to a
team wearing a brightly colored one why because they perceive the team in black
to be more aggressive the same experiment with hockey teams found
similar results they also found that color doesn't just impact how we
perceive the team's but on player behavior too athletes wearing darker
colors have been shown to behave more aggressively than those in lighter and
brighter uniforms some theories have gone so far as to determine that winners
wear red knowing that across multiple sports
teams and athletes with red uniforms win more often a 2008 article that
researched over 50 years of premier league soccer discovered that three out
of the four most successful teams wore red jerseys for home games
hmm all this just from wondering why so many police departments have blue
uniforms Oh No well now you know why cops wear blue and why you should
apparently root for the Boston Red Sox over the Chicago White Sox let's get
into the name game you know cops five-oh and all that jazz where did they come
from the one you're probably most familiar with is cop and sure enough
this one also came from Britain the original slang term was copper meaning a
person who captures yes see you'll never catch me alive copper that was bad there
have also been other stories about where the term originated from reference to an
officer's copper badge to a range of acronyms like constable on patrol but
the truth is it just came from the first thing now five-o doesn't have such a
lengthy etymology as cop does this one simply comes from the American TV show
Hawaii five-o welcome Dan oh yeah no joke it's kind of used like a warning
among people involved in questionable activities hey watch out it's the five-o
now the fuzz doesn't seem to have as clear of an origin some will tell you it
comes from the static hurt on a police radio while others say it was from
mispronouncing the force as in police force not the energy field created by
all living things and binds the Galaxy together obi-wan and well there's that
nickname the men and women in blue but you know where that comes from by now
now it's your turn what color uniform does law enforcement wear in your neck
of the woods let me know down in the comments if you heard something new
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