Cambridgeshire Chief Constable's epaullettes

[1314]

Did anyone see The Daily Telegraph article of 9th inst depicting The Chief Constable of Cambridgeshire, a Mrs Julie Spence,in uniform and wearing her summer/indoor uniform with her epaullettes bearing not only her badges of rank(a crown surmounting crossed tipstaves surrounded by a wreath),but also her name in white embroidered letters !
Additonally she was wearing a name plate on her left chest.
Why is there the need to display your name to those to your front and to the left and right ? Anyone else noticed this individualism amongst our senior officers ?
Epaullettes are for badges of rank and/or the Force name/abbreviation.

[Sunray9]

Just a bit like seeing very senior British Army Generals wearing a mixture of GB insgnia and those wreteched 3 or 4 stars in their desert cams !

[Bill A]

Not 100% sure about British law enforcement, but in Canada the identity of the police officer has to be clearly visible for those who are dealing with the officer. The overkill in the id may have to do with policy and practice.

[leigh kitchen]

Names on the chest of course tend to be covered by protective vests or outer garments etc, hence Cambridgeshires adoption of names embroidered on shoulder straps.

The idea of compulsory name badges was put forward under Major's government & was'nt very popular with police officers, it was trialed by Northants I think. Lucky them. It was all to do with quality of service to the public - "My names Leigh, fly me".
At the time it was pointed out by the Police Federation & others that offering up your name to the public in such a way (& for no valid reason that I can see) was inviting trouble - there are police officers whose names will invite ribald comment & why show your name to a drunken yob or similar - all it means is athat when he's a safe distance down the road he'll start yelling your name ad nauseum rather than your number.
Although not made compulsory, the idea lived on in Cambridgeshire, with pin back & then "magnetic" plastic name badges being issued, wear being optional.
I think they became compulsory a couple of years ago, & now the idea of having given & family names embroidered in silver thread along with the "collar number" (now presumably not needed as your name is offered up) is compulsory in Cambridgeshire.
Showing off their names may serve a purpose for & appeal to people who sit around in multi-agency conferences & meetings or hold press conferences, & who knows, it may have appealed to me to have it emblazoned on my little jimmy-jams when I was a toddler, but I don't see why coppers should wear them, especially in a society where personal information is so readily available to people once they know your name.
I know of at least one Cambridgeshire police officer who as a result of the impending order to wear names on shoulder straps changed her very distinctive name for a different one for "work" purposes rather than be forced to wear it on her shoulders. And in her case the wearing of names on the shoulder means that instead of a drunk yelling "Messerschmitt" at her (guess the number?) she still has to discuss her name with everyone she meets.
Personally, I find it rather disconcerting & rude of them to find that the person I'm talking to keeps angling their head & squinting to try to read my name on an ID card worn on my chest, let alone on the shoulder.

[leigh kitchen]

Oh, & I hear Cambridgeshire's going to adopt the Home Office pattern rose topped helmet, replacing the current Guardian pattern with the top/back comb.
Something to do with standardising with Herts & another force (Norfolk?).
Is it coincidental that the horrible rose top is already in use by Herts - the force that the recently appointed Cambs Chief Constable came from?

[Gurkha]

Not Norfolk Leigh, they wear the Guardian Helmet. We were issued with velcro patches to wear on our body armour. This had our Rank number intial and name. My collegues name was Adcock and his first name stuart so you can imagine how long he wore that for !!!

[leigh kitchen]

I used to know a Cambs cop of the same name.

My source, admittedly usually unreliable after a couple of glasses of wine, tells me that it's probably Beds, Herts & Cambs who are standardising their helmets to a single pattern.

[leigh kitchen]

A simple comparison shows that the Guardian is a far superior design to the Home Office pattern helmet.

[geezer#199]

Just to add to Bill's comment on Canadian Police wearing their name, etc. With the RCMP it is required to wear your surname on your front. A plastic name tag pinned to your shirt or jacket. On your vest it is attached by velcro. Other police forces in Canada, and I can only really speak about the police forces on the west coast, have adopted the practice of wearing their police number. All this being said, it is only on your chest, not your shoulders.

[matti467]

An item of possible interest. I was in Notts Constabulary for two years, 1992-4. It was not a job I loved or was particulary good at so I got out. We were the last force in the country to issues jumpers. You could pick out Notts officers a mile away at Ryton PTC. Apparently Notts were also the last force in the country to do away with the high collared tunic with collar number. Our helmets were a paler blue than our almost black uniforms and had a ball toped 'spike', far smarter than the rose ones. We always thought Derbyshire helemts had come from 'Fireman Sam'.
My colleague 'Corky' still had his old cork helmet and refused to hand it in.
In about 1993 we bumped into some Thames Valley officers by Bramcote Baths who were on prisoner collection. They had US typr name shields on their shirt pockets with their names on.
Matti