Thursday, October 8, 2009

Wrong uniform

The University of Nebraska football team had a bye last Saturday, and an away game tonight. That's a nice breather for the officers who work on the detail. For me, too, in an odd and less significant way. As an example, Nebraska's last home game brought me an unhappy email from a fan on the following Monday:
"I have 3 questions regarding police officer conduct while on duty and orders to vacate a public sidewalk. On Saturday, I believe an officer was incorrect in asking me to vacate an area on a public sidewalk. The officer had no identifying information on his person that I could see. I could see no badge, only a yellow shirt that said "POLICE", so I could not get either a name or a badge number. I do not know if the officer was off-duty acting as private security or was on-duty for the city of Lincoln. My three questions are these. First, if I ask an officer for his/her name and/or badge number, is that officer obliged to give me that information, whether or not the officer is acting in the capacity of a Lincoln police officer or acting as private security? Second, if I want to file a complaint about a particular officer, how may I go about doing that? Finally, if I am on a public sidewalk, standing and doing nothing illegal (including not blocking the sidewalk, foot traffic is free to flow around me while still remaining on the public sidewalk), am I obliged to vacate that sidewalk if an officer orders me to do so?"

I responded to him,
"We have no such uniform, and my officers are prohibited from working off-duty in any other uniform as security. Do you want to tell me where and when this happened on Saturday, and I'll see if I can figure out who you might have been dealing with?"
After a little more back-and-forth, I figured out that his encounter was probably with a private security guard at a parking lot. The proliferation of all manner of uniforms and quasi-uniforms has made it more difficult these days, in my opinion, to identify the players.

The homecoming game against Louisiana-Lafayette was Nebraska's 300th consecutive sellout. In honor of the occasion, the Huskers wore a throwback uniform designed to look like that worn by the 1962 Cornhuskers, back when the streak started. Maybe we should try the same thing. I'm not sure we'd be able to finance it, though, by auctioning the game-day worn uniforms on the Internet.

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think LPD wears throwback uniforms every day.

Tom Casady said...

5:48-

Ha!

Actually, this is the "throwback uniform" an LPD officer would have been wearing while directing traffic in 1962.

Anonymous said...

Not sure about the throwback uniforms, but we'll take the throwback prices!

Anonymous said...

Do you know if UNLPD officers are allowed to work off-duty in any uniform other than their full duty uniform?

Anonymous said...

Hay the link is to a picture of a fellow who looks like the guy that plants tulips in the garden on 27th and crapitol Parkway.
Nice

ARRRRG!!!! said...

I was wearing a yellow shirt after the game but I didn't tell anyone to get off of the sidewalk.

Nyfty said...

Chief: We all know that "French Blue" identifies an LPD Officer!

Anonymous said...

I actually like that 1962 uniform better than what we wear today.

Anonymous said...

A9-100332 - wasn't there another HIR at that address last winter? They allegedly took a safe/lockbox, something like that.

Tom Casady said...

8:47-

Probably because you have never worn it. Nothing like a six hour football detail on the first Saturday of September, 1974, hotter than blazes, wearing a navy blue wool blouse that restricted your arm movement to about shoulder high. Gotta love the suicide strap, too.

9:05-

You are quite correct. Something is amiss, but I'm not able to discuss it.

Anonymous said...

Understood; opsec takes priority.

9:05

Trevor said...

Ah...corporate secuirty, a profession that sometimes attracts those who haven't grown out of their childhood bully complex. Sure, there are people who are nice/honest and just needed a job, but they are the exception rather than the norm.

Wait a minute...isn't this called impersonation of a police officer? No?

Anonymous said...

"wearing a navy blue wool blouse"

Did the Chief just admit he wears a navy blue wool blouse???

ROFL

Tom Casady said...

1:06

You should stop ROFLing and learn a little history. The term "blouse," among it's many definitions, includes a military dress jacket. In the old days before cellular telephones and text messages, the lightest-weight police outergarment was referred to as the "blouse," the heavier 3/4 length coat as the "reefer", and the mid-calf length heavy wool coat as the "long coat."

That's Chief Dean Leitner wearing a reefer in Memorial Stadium on page 27 of the 1971 Annual Report; the Mayor of Billings, MT, Officer Ron Tussing, in a blouse on page 21 of the 1972 Annual Report, a rack of reefers and blouses on page 11 of the 1973 Annual Report, and an unidentified officer in a long coat on page 2 of the 1970 Annual Report.

Anonymous said...

I wore a camo blouse nearly every day of my enlistment in the USMC.

Anonymous said...

I was just joking about the "blouse". I was well aware of what you were talking about.

Laughter is the best medicine!

Anonymous said...

No, UNLPD does not wear any other uniform when working a special event. UNLPD is not allowed to work "off-duty" jobs anyway.

Anonymous said...

"an unidentified officer in a long coat on page 2 of the 1970 Annual Report."

That's Barry VandenBrink in the alley photo, ahaking the doors.

172

Tom Casady said...

3:23-

That's OK, I couldn't tell if you were serious or not, but I figured there were probably plenty of people who would be interested in the blouse, the reefer, and the long coat. There's also a great photo hanging in the lineup room of Sgt. Bud Hynek in a long coat walking out to the beat with the meter maids.

Steve said...

That reefer looks suspiciously like a navy P-Coat to me .

Greg Soukup said...

How well I remember those uniforms!! And how glad my father was to be promoted to Detective. That meant that he could dress in a less formal way and adapt better to the weather changes.
My mother wasn't so happy as she got the laundry duties for him.