Vintage Police Uniforms

Shangas · Jun 3, 2014

Edward said:
Looks like it might be silk. Be interesting to see more about the composition of those. Silk armour goes way back to ancient China; silk was used as a primary component because it apparently is very resistant to tearing on the end of an arrow-point, or a blade (obviously there would need to be some padding in there too or an arrow would just carry it on into the body by sheer force). I doubt it would stop a gun, but it might well be the basis for a pretty effective stab-vest. Certainly that ancient armour is a likely root of the design for what we see in that photo.

Surprised I haven't answered this posting yet.

Silk is very strong. I believe it's because of the LONG fibres used to make it. It means it's very resistant to tearing, doesn't wrinkle, and therefore, conforms very well. This means that it can take blunt-force or even acute-force trauma very well. Stuff like stabbings, swords, arrows and such.

But silk was also used to manufacture the first-generation bulletproof vests, back in the 1800s/early 20th century. They were layer on layer on layer of silk, sewn together, reinforced with a protective steel plate. So it's very likely that the SMP officers in that photograph WERE wearing silk vests/armour.

I don't know who can confirm this for me, but I seem to recall stories of gunslingers in the Wild West keeping folded silk handkerchiefs in their top waistcoat pockets. This silk hankies were supposed to absorb the power of a bullet if someone tried to shoot them in the chest/heart. Although I doubt what the effectiveness of such a small piece of 'armour' would be.

Slobo · Jun 3, 2014

I too like the Italian police uniforms, particularly Polizia di Stado, but these are hard for me to find to collect. I have started collecting German polizei uniforms. With the changes by most of the German States (except Bavaria) to blue in 2008-2010, the 1970s-2000s bottle green and beige uniforms have hit the market and are pretty available. Sometimes tough to find without state insignia removed however.

Kahuna · Jun 4, 2014

I found this picture in a Palouse, WA antique store a couple weeks ago. I've been told by people on the LA Noirish thread of the Skyscraper forum that this was the uniform of the speed squad of the Los Angeles police and that the picture was taken somewhere around 1910-1920. I'd be interested to hear any opinions confirming or denying that.

Vintage lover · Jun 5, 2014

I want those gloves and gaiters. The hat too. I wonder what he had against the police department? He seems pretty adamant about stopping the police seeing as he took the time to light up his protest sign

Stearmen · Sep 10, 2014

1922, Los Angeles Police Department Officers on their new Indian motorcycles. Very informal uniforms!

Jim Hayden · Nov 10, 2014

West Virginia State Police, 1922 (note the Thompson SMG)

BobHufford · Nov 12, 2014

1958 in Springfield, MO. Shame about the Eldorado Brougham.

Bob

cm289 · Aug 30, 2015

Here are some from my old PD from the 30s to the 70s. They had quite a few uniform changes through the decades. Like many smaller PDs (Mayberry Sheriff's Office, anybody?) after WWII, they wore surplus military khakis.

1933

1941

1951

1957

Late 60s

Early 70s (this one is Border Patrol green)

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newsman · Sep 1, 2015

Guttersnipe said:
Lieutenant Charles Becker of the NYPD around 1912. An colorful and inordinately corrupt policeman -- even by the standards of the day -- Becker is the only American police officer ever executed for murder:

Oh dear. Perhaps from this time period. But i hate to drag this dirt out. Florida executed a former officer within the last year or two. And if I am mistaken Louisiana has two on death row.

cm289 · Sep 1, 2015

This one needs a needle, post haste:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoinette_Frank

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Dinerman · Sep 1, 2015

TPD166 · Feb 3, 2016

My grandfather, Robert Kennedy, Nyack (NY) Police Department.

Formal portrait – Motorcycle Officer, 1920s.

Nyack’s first patrol car – about 1927.

Group photo – 1930 – Officer R.L. Kennedy, far right.

V.C. Brunswick · Feb 4, 2016

San Francisco PD, circa 1923
Not a crime scene photo but a still from Erich von Stroheim's movie Greed. As the movie was filmed entirely on location and given von Stroheim's quest for realism and attention to detail, we can presume that these men were actual police officers rather than actors.

V.C. Brunswick · May 26, 2016

BlueTrain · May 26, 2016

When I was in London a few years ago, I saw very few policemen wearing bobby helmets but a surprisingly large number of very well-armed constables. Perhaps they heard I would be there. Anyway, they used to wear them here, too.

While I don't care for the civil police becoming more like the military, which they really aren't, any such trend did not start as the result of 9/11. Doesn't anyone here remember all the riots in the past, and typically when the police were overwhelmed? How short our memory can be at times. You think that policemen in the 1920s and 1930s were somehow kindler and gentler than they are now? The uniforms don't matter much to me. There are even a few bicycle patrolmen who wear bike shorts. Traditions are being trashed right and left! But then, tradition is not what we did a hundred years ago; it's what we did last year. Besides, people will happily put up with an authoritarian police force before they will put up with anarchy. Some people are always surprised when they realize that.

When I was in college, I recall that on home game days during the football season, the reserve policemen would be called out on duty. You could spot them a mile away because their uniforms looked dated. Very wide-legged pants.

The same sentiment applies to military uniforms, army uniforms in particular (the Marines are immune to change). There is a body of belief that thinks polished brass, bulled leather, stiffly starched cottons, blancoed webbing and a tight fit is the only way to present one's self as a soldier. That was pretty much the rule when I was in the service except for the Blanco. But my son, who got out of the army nearly ten years ago, complained that the army would issue a uniform with instructions on the label not to starch and the sergeant major or first sergeant would make everyone iron their BDUs.

I have no memory of learning anything about the police in school but I have a vivid memory of a life-size cut-out image of a state policeman in his service dress uniform of coat, breeches, (probably) wrap-legging, Sam Browne and campaign hat. It was a forest green color, same color that is still worn, although the coat is rarely worn and they wear trousers instead of breeches. It sat propped up against the wall next to the door to the boy's room. I think it was supposed to be used outside where the kids crossed the street but I don't remember seeing it used like that.

EngProf · May 26, 2016

BlueTrain said:
When I was in London a few years ago, I saw very few policemen wearing bobby helmets but a surprisingly large number of very well-armed constables. Perhaps they heard I would be there. Anyway, they used to wear them here, too.

While I don't care for the civil police becoming more like the military, which they really aren't, any such trend did not start as the result of 9/11. Doesn't anyone here remember all the riots in the past, and typically when the police were overwhelmed? How short our memory can be at times. You think that policemen in the 1920s and 1930s were somehow kindler and gentler than they are now? The uniforms don't matter much to me. There are even a few bicycle patrolmen who wear bike shorts. Traditions are being trashed right and left! But then, tradition is not what we did a hundred years ago; it's what we did last year. Besides, people will happily put up with an authoritarian police force before they will put up with anarchy. Some people are always surprised when they realize that.

When I was in college, I recall that on home game days during the football season, the reserve policemen would be called out on duty. You could spot them a mile away because their uniforms looked dated. Very wide-legged pants.

The same sentiment applies to military uniforms, army uniforms in particular (the Marines are immune to change). There is a body of belief that thinks polished brass, bulled leather, stiffly starched cottons, blancoed webbing and a tight fit is the only way to present one's self as a soldier. That was pretty much the rule when I was in the service except for the Blanco. But my son, who got out of the army nearly ten years ago, complained that the army would issue a uniform with instructions on the label not to starch and the sergeant major or first sergeant would make everyone iron their BDUs.

I have no memory of learning anything about the police in school but I have a vivid memory of a life-size cut-out image of a state policeman in his service dress uniform of coat, breeches, (probably) wrap-legging, Sam Browne and campaign hat. It was a forest green color, same color that is still worn, although the coat is rarely worn and they wear trousers instead of breeches. It sat propped up against the wall next to the door to the boy's room. I think it was supposed to be used outside where the kids crossed the street but I don't remember seeing it used like that.

Agree 100% that the so-called "militarization" of the police is not a recent phenomenon. I have photos from the post-WWI era showing cops with Lewis light machine guns and Army trench shotguns with long bayonets attached. Another photo is of a police motorcycle with a Colt-Marlin tripod-mounted machine gun on it.
Same thing happened post-WWII.
Good or bad, it's not new...

BlueTrain · May 26, 2016

I wouldn't be surprised that people started complaining as soon as there were police forces. The local police force here only goes back to 1939. Before that, it was the sheriff's department.

Guttersnipe · Oct 9, 2016

newsman said:
Oh dear. Perhaps from this time period. But i hate to drag this dirt out. Florida executed a former officer within the last year or two. And if I am mistaken Louisiana has two on death row.

Please note the date of my post (2013). Charles Becker, and the NYPD circa 1890 - 1910, were the subjects of Satan's Circus: Murder, Vice, Police Corruption, and New York's Trial of the Century, by Mike Dash, which was published in 2007. At the time, Becker had the nefarious distinction of being the only American police officer executed for murder. You'll note his Wikipedia page as since been updated. Ironically, Charlie Becker may well have been innocent of the crime for which he was convicted in 1912, and subsequently executed for in 1915.

Florida executed Manuel Pardo in 2014, for murdering 9 people in 1986. However, I believe that at the time of his crime spree, Pardo was no longer a police officer (he had been fired by the Sweetwater PD in 1985 for lying under oath). Whereas, Charles Becker was still an NYPD lieutenat when, in 1912, he was arrested for the murder of Herman Rosenthal, a NYC underworld figure....

cm289 said:
This one needs a needle, post haste:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoinette_Frank

...whereas, Antoinette Frank, formerly of the New Orleans PD hasn't been executed yet.

Inkstainedwretch · Oct 9, 2016

"A Policeman's Lot is Not a Happy One"
Gilbert & Sullivan
The Pirates of Penzance (1879)

newsman · Oct 18, 2016

EngProf said:
Another photo is of a police motorcycle with a Colt-Marlin tripod-mounted machine gun on it.
Same thing happened post-WWII.
Good or bad, it's not new...

Nothing new is right. This has pretty much been going on since the start of police work.

A lot of cops are former military. Some of the best I ever worked with were. I certainly know who I want to clear a building with. Some of this training spills over.

I knew a retired navy diver who was on our dive team. He was a great cop and on the dive team. I think he was more at home underwater to tell you the truth.

Recently a local officer saved the leg of a motorcyclist who was in a terrible accident. The officer is a former military medic with combat time. The PD is grateful to have a man of this kind of skill in it's ranks. He certainly was well trained by the military.

Back in the late 1990s I did get in trouble for "mounting a bayonet" on my M1 Carbine. The sheriff's department i worked for had a fairly liberal policy on firearms and I qualified with an 1943 M1 Carbine. It was a great patrol carbine. Somewhere i found a knife to stick on the front of this carbine and just played with it. Kept it in my patrol car....it was a nice tool.

The chief said something about use of force spectrum and asked if I could place the bayonet in the spectrum. I tossed it in the truck after that.

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