England | West Yorkshire | 'Poor first aid' in shot Pc's car". BBC News. 29 May 2005 . Retrieved 8 May 2009. Harley, Nicola (2017-05-10). "Police swap helmets for caps to attract more transgender officers". The Telegraph. The lists of police uniforms and equipment here are not exhaustive, nor specific for each force, but give a general overview of typical 'kit' used in the United Kingdom.

A Custodian Helmet is also known as a Policeman’s Helmet or Centurion Helmet and technically known as a ‘Home Office Pattern Helmet’. The Custodian Helmet is worn by policemen in England and Wales as the traditional headgear of the ‘Bobby on the beat’, worn by constables and sergeants on foot patrol. A Peaked Cap is worn by officers on mobile patrol in cars. Female officers usually wear a bowler with a badge. Recently, efforts have been made to make headwear more gender-neutral. An example of this is Hertfordshire Police who have given officers the option to wear identical headwear, regardless of gender. Why do some police officers wear Baseball caps? British Police online Museum - Royal Irish Constabulary /Royal Irish Constabulary Helmet, 1917". Archived from the original on 5 November 2013 . Retrieved 6 October 2012. The traditional cork construction often led CID personnel to call their uniformed colleagues "woodentops" (the name of a children's TV programme). British Police online Museum - Royal Ulster Constabulary/RUC Helmet, 1960's". Archived from the original on 5 November 2013 . Retrieved 6 October 2012.

Landy, Samantha (2013-06-14). "From military-style to navy blue threads: the evolution of the Victoria Police uniform". Herald Sun . Retrieved 2021-06-23. Since the 1950s, helmets have no longer been worn by police officers in Scotland, but may be seen worn by Metropolitan Police officers when on Royal duties in Scotland. They ceased to be worn in Northern Ireland after the 1920s, except for night patrol work in Belfast and Derry until the early 1960s. Until the mid-1990s, most police forces utilised a 14inch long traditional wooden truncheon. On 20 June 1994, Home Secretary Michael Howard authorised the use of batons. Long, rigid American-style batons were then introduced, first by the Metropolitan Police and then by other forces, but in many places these were short lived, mainly due to their being unwieldy in most operational circumstances. [ citation needed] Personal radio systems were first issued to police officers and installed in police cars in the 1960s (resulting in the demise of the " police box" telephones made famous by Doctor Who). In 2004, British police forces began change radios from analogue, to digital TETRA (Terrestrial Trunked Radio) system for communications, called Airwave.

Externally the top of the very first Custodian helmet’s shape (fig.4) is thought by some to have perhaps been purely ornamental. If so superficially it looks as if it may have been based on the metal British Dragoon helmets of the early 19 th century, but still with elements of the pre-1863 police issue stove-pipe hat. Perhaps the early dragoon helmets of 1812 and onwards were copied giving the first Custodian helmet a coxcomb or ridge. Several regional police forces still use modern versions of this coxcomb style. Fire helmets were indeed based on the dragoon style, a tradition started in France, but with broader flatter brims to guard against embers, brass ones were adopted in Britain in 1868.Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2005-12-28 . Retrieved 2010-12-13. {{ cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title ( link) He does seem to imply that ‘custodian’ was the original name for the 1863 design. Others who made similar items may have called their model something else. As you say the name in an actual early dated helmet would be useful, although often only the makers stamp is present as the helmet shape itself discloses the model? The Metropolitan Police approved the use of name badges in October 2003, and new recruits started wearing the Velcro badges in September 2004. The badges consist of the wearer's rank, followed by their surname. Senior officers wear these in no.1 dress, due to the public nature of their role. [22] Northern Ireland [ edit ]