Things I Love

I’ve worn my whole gun belt, or “rig” as some call it, every time I wore my uniform. As a patrol officer, a sergeant, a lieutenant and a captain. In my opinion, if you are going to possibly need one of those tools, you may need some of the others. Wearing an “administrative belt” limits you to a gun only. It’s also part of the uniform. There are exceptions for administrative and executive level personnel, but I don’t like it.

I also don’t like the white shirts. Many departments across the nation have gone to white shirts for a level of supervision. Some start at lieutenant; at NOPD captains and above use the white shirt. There is no option not to wear it. It wasn’t always like this, though. It changed when Pennington got here. I was once at a meeting with the head of the Louisiana State Police. There he was in his blue shirt, just like the troopers he had at his side. I walked over to him and expressed my jealousy of his matching uniforms. We agreed upon why this is a bad idea. It visually separates the top rank from the lower ranks. I don’t like that separation and would rather be part of the whole team. Each player had their part, like in chess. My part, starting at sergeant but much more at lieutenant and captain, is to make the jobs of the patrol officers as easy and distraction free as possible. To take the hit when something goes wrong and to shout from the mountain top when they do well.

NIBIN hits