The design of new uniforms for local and federal police officers has been unveiled, featuring an abundance of bright yellow, Het Laatste Nieuws (HLN) reveals.
Reactions to the new uniform have largely been positive. Chairperson of the local police standing committee, Nicholas Paelinck, said that the new uniform "commanded respect". Currently, the federal police uniform is solid blue and the local police uniform is light blue with grey stripes.
"Our uniform commands zero respect," Paelinck complained. "When visiting colleagues from other countries, it shames me to death. We look like we are part of a brass band. I wear it as little as possible."
The current uniform was adopted in 2001 and the police chief has expressed his displeasure ever since. He says that even at the time of its adoption it was a bad choice. The police boss says he has been advocating for a new uniform for the last ten years.
"For ten years I have been fighting blindly against people who do not want to hear or see that our uniform does not command respect," Paelinck told HLN. He says the principal resistance from the Federal Government to the proposal for a change, until recently, was money.
Providing new uniforms for 12,000 federal police officers and 35,000 local police officers is costly. But new uniforms have recently been made available to the Prison Service, the national railway company SNCB, and the army. Two years ago, the Federal Government launched a working group to devise a new design amidst growing pressure from senior officials.
New look
During these consultations, members of the federal police pushed to make the new uniform "unique as well as modern." The police overwhelmingly advocated for the uniforms to remain dark navy blue, but with a greater contrast of colours.
The use of yellow on the new uniforms is important. Paelinck says that studies had concluded that human eyes are more sensitive to the colour yellow during the day and it is more easily visible at night, compared to orange, which is used by some other police forces. New police uniforms in the Netherlands, Germany and France have all started to incorporate the colour.
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Dutch uniform designer, Karen Slegers, was selected as the winning designer for the new uniform. Her design heavily features yellow and reflective boxes. She previously designed uniforms for Albert Hejn, Center Parcs and Schipol Airport.
The design is now largely accepted but some issues still need to be addressed, such as where to attach patches and ranks, and importantly ensuring that the uniforms are also fitting for women.
Once these issues are resolved, the uniform will be presented to police unions. If it is accepted by both the local and federal police, it will be up to the Minister of the Interior to give final approval. It is believed that the uniform would enter into service in 2026, at the earliest.
