Kilts as a dress uniform in policy for law enforcement

[Chas]

Hello TnTJ,

What you are proposing is good and laudable and will make a valuable addition to the Force and your community. There is a problem with it though. To get it implemented will require a considerable amount of work and effort by more than one person. The more departments that are involved and the work and effort will grow exponentially as each department will have to interact with each other.

People are inherently lazy and I am sure that all the officials concerned have more than enough work to contend with now. So I would offer this idea.

Write the Policy Document and the Dress Code yourself.

Take your time; be comprehensive; include all foreseeable eventualities; do accurate costings; have answers to every possible question that someone might ask; take soundings from others (serving officers, retired officers, widows and children, unrelated members of the public, fellow kiltwearers and members of other organisations with kilted dress).

What are the advantages of doing it yourself? Well, for a start, there is a better chance of getting what you want.

When it is finished, produce it in hard-copy and on CD, so that the officials concerned will be able to easily copy and paste into their own documents. The more work that you do for them at the start will ease the passage through any local legislation.

Good luck and keep us informed.

Regards

Chas

[dutchy kilted]

Greetings, TnTJ, from a a fellow Law Dog,

I know there are other PD's that have a kilt as part of their dress uniform. At the Maryland Irish Festival, either Baltimore City or Baltimore County cops wear a kilt with their dress blouse, and the New Hampshire Highland games the Franklin (NH) police and surrounding areas all wear kilts with their regular unifroms. They might be able to help you out with a policy. If there is a local Emerald Society they might be able to put you in touch with other departments that have a policy.

Springettsbury Township PD in York County, Pennsylvania has or had a piper who had a modified uniform for piping.

God luck and keep us updated.

Here is an older post with some good pictures for you:
http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...t-kilts-74661/

[flairball]

Don't know if this will help, but....

I work on the fire side of public safety, and our department has a gaelic brigade. The pipers and drummers all have kilts as part of their uniform. The brigade is organized as a club, and the kilt was their uniform, not any official dept dress uniform. I don't know if they had to get permission to use the city patch on their uniform. I doubt it, as the city needs all the help it can get in bettering it's image. The kilt is only used in conjunction with brigade activities, and would be inappropriate for "official" business. That said, there have been official functions where the city has requested a piper, and the piper would then be wearing the brigade uniform.

The brigade, being a club, differs from the honor guard in that the honor guard is endorsed by the city, and their members get comp time for acting as part of the honor guard. The brigade is all about making noise, drinking beer, and .......

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Don't know if this will help, but....

I work on the fire side of public safety, and our department has a gaelic brigade. The pipers and drummers all have kilts as part of their uniform. The brigade is organized as a club, and the kilt was their uniform, not any official dept dress uniform. I don't know if they had to get permission to use the city patch on their uniform. I doubt it, as the city needs all the help it can get in bettering it's image. The kilt is only used in conjunction with brigade activities, and would be inappropriate for "official" business. That said, there have been official functions where the city has requested a piper, and the piper would then be wearing the brigade uniform.

The brigade, being a club, differs from the honor guard in that the honor guard is endorsed by the city, and their members get comp time for acting as part of the honor guard. The brigade is all about making noise, drinking beer, and .......

Absolutely the right answer.