Goldsboro police get new, dark uniforms
By Gary Popp
Published in News on February 21, 2012 1:46 PM
The men and women of the Goldsboro Police Department will have a new look starting Wednesday.
Officers are changing from light blue shirts and dark pants to matching dark shirts and pants.
The new color scheme will give the department's nearly 80 officers an even more professional appearance, Maj. Mike West said.
West said the department has experienced difficulty keeping all of its officers in the same shade of light blue as the shirts often fade in the laundry and the vendors who supply the shirts don't always deliver them in the same shade of light blue.
"We would have several officers sitting there in different colors of the lighter blue," West said. "The new uniforms will be better."
The light blue shirts have been in use by the department since 2002.
With the head-to-toe dark blue uniforms, the department is returning to the uniforms worn by officers for nearly 25 years starting in the mid-1980s.
Interim Chief Jeff Stewart said the uniforms will be more tactical, especially for officers working the night shifts.
Before Stewart and others decided to make the most recent uniform change, rank-and-file officers were surveyed for what they wanted in a new uniform.
A selection of uniform styles was provided at the department for the officers to inspect before giving their input for the new uniforms.
Nearly 90 percent of the officers chose the material and color of the new uniforms, West said.
Stewart said the officers currently receive about three pairs of pants, three short sleeve shirts and three long sleeve shirts each year.
He said that now is a good time to make the change to the new uniform as the time for distribution of the summer uniform is approaching.
A few of the officers were selected to wear the uniforms for a trial period, and so far everyone has seemed satisfied, Stewart said.
"The officers are looking forward to wearing the new uniforms," he said. "And, the feedback from the test officers is that they received a positive response from the public."