Name/Title
Sussex Police early style unbadged pullover c1984Entry/Object ID
2333Description
Blue wool "V" necked pullover with vertical ribbing and blue cotton patches on elbows and shoulders. Marked on label "Commando" and "Machine Washable Pure New Wool Quality International Knitwear Made in England Euro 56 UK 46". No badge or epaulettes/epaulette loops attached.Use
For a Sussex Police officer to wear under a coat or tunicContext
In the 1980s some police forces began to issue officers with blue "V" necked woollen pullovers that could be worn instead of a tunic or coat. Because these resembled military pullovers of the time, with elbow and shoulder patches they were often referred to as "NATO jumpers", all military equipment having labels marked with NATO stock numbers. Whilst some forces, such as West Midlands Police, were happy to have officers wearing these pullovers in public, complete with force badges and officer's numbers displayed, others were not and many chief constables insisted that officers only wear tunics or uniform coats in public, or shirts during the summer (Clarke1991 Page 17).
Sussex Police issued this style of pullover to officers in the early 1980s, but they were not badged and had no facility to apply epaulettes to display officer's numbers. This was because they were not permitted to be worn in public, other than under other uniform garments.
This particular pullover was issued to PC Ian Borthwick who was posted at Brighton in the 1980s.
In the mid to late 1980s these pullovers were replaced with ones (Item 2426) made of identical ribbed knitting, but without the patches and the addition of a bell shaped Sussex Police "EIIR" badge. However these newer pullovers were also not permitted to be worn instead of tunics or uniform coats, as they did not display officer's warrant numbers.