Originally Posted by
Mark E. Hurling
I suppose the preferred term of art is (or once was) butt-hurt.
This case of the ass about police and their equipment is nothing new. Except it used to be the province of the ACLU and community organizers. In the 70's, the ACLU and others were all over hollow point ammunition. Also, this was when LE agencies began to move from 6 shot revolvers to larger magazine capacity semi-autos. More horrors were expressed over weapons of war and police firepower. Body armor had just made it's entry on the scene and if you wanted it, and your department decided it was worthwhile, you were on your own hook to buy it. Armor was not considered part of the uniform. No doubt this changed at some point after I left the public sector.
Uniforms were pretty low key things. Ugly-ass powder blue shirts, navy blue pants, and easily cuffed corfam shoes were often the order of the day for many departments. The only fancy pockets, and these were only on high-end uniform pants was one for a flat sap along the outer seam. But saps were going out of use for the same reasons the ACLU didn't like the other LE equipment mentioned above. Which was probably not a bad thing, because saps got abused and misused back then even more than tasers are now.
For reference, history tells us that the original PD's back in the Eastern got some real hate, shit, and discontent when their watchmen were first put into semi-uniform garb, and given cudgels for whatever might be necessary.
Haters gonna hate.