Name/Title
Sussex Police Inspector's re -enforced "Custodian" helmet 1980 -1985Entry/Object ID
239Description
Blue two panelled felt covered, ABS plastic Sussex Police Inspector's re-enforced "Custodian" helmet with chrome rose top and chrome Sussex Police Queen's Crown "EIIR" one piece helmet plate. Fitted with two chrome bands. The inside is coloured green and has cork re-enforcing pads, a red "silk" headband and both a thin leather chinstrap and a webbing harness one. Marked inside " Custodian Helmet, Compton Webb (Headdress Ltd. 94 Newland, Witney, Oxon, GB".Use
Uniform headdress for an Inspector in a public order type situationContext
This style of police helmet with a rose top, has been standard uniform headdress in Sussex since the smaller forces were amalgamated to form Sussex Constabulary in 1968. The badge or "helmet plate", on this helmet was in use in Sussex from 1974, when the Force name was changed from "Sussex Constabulary" to "Sussex Police", and remained in use until 1999 when a new badge was introduced with a coat of arms. Police helmets were traditionally made of cork or pressed felt but by the 1970s police forces were beginning to use plastics.
In 1977 in response to growing levels of public disorder and concerns over officer safety the Metropolitan Police introduced a new helmet made of ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) plastic with cork padding inserts and a webbing harness strap. These helmets were identical in outside appearance to the traditional cork helmets and were intended initially only for public order use. They were coloured green on the inside to mimic the lining on cork helmets. Other police forces followed and by the 1980s the re-enforced helmet began to be adopted as the standard helmet in place of un re-enforced ones. After 1985 the insides were coloured black and the earlier cork padding was replaced with white foam (Avon and Somerset Constabulary blog post 6/6/15).
These type of re-enforced police helmets are now generically referred to as "Custodian" helmets after the "Custodian Helmet" brand of uniform suppliers "Compton Webb".
This particular helmet has two chrome bands around it, instead of the normal single black band normally used on Sussex Police helmets at the time. This is because it was for use by a male inspector, the two bands to signify his rank. The use of cork padding, red "silk" headband and a green coloured inside suggest that this is an earlier example made before 1985.