Name/Title
Sussex Police softshell uniform blouson jacket 2020Entry/Object ID
2487Description
Black coloured fleece lined synthetic softshell material blouson jacket, with front zip fastening, shoulder epaulettes for attaching slider style ID epaulettes and small pen pockets on each upper arm. There are waist pockets each side with zip fastenings and small tabs at the front of each shoulder for attaching a radio. Across the front and back are white and blue reflective checkered bands, and the neck is a turtle style. Over the left breast is a removable blue and white badge marked "Police", which is reflective and attached with velcro, and there is a larger similar removable badge on the rear. The end of each sleeve has an an adjustable tab secured with velcro. Inside the neck is a label marked "Tailored Image" and inside at the bottom is another marked "Softshell Unisex Jacket Black TP 2419 Size: 2XL/T Contract: West Yorkshire Police DOM 2/20 Country of Origin: Bangladesh"Use
For a police officer to wear as an outer garment.Context
In 2006 Sussex Police adopted the then national police uniform fleece as an outer garment. These were used for a number of years although there were complaints about their warmth and suitability in wet weather. By the late 2010's these fleeces were being replaced with soft shell jackets such as the one shown here. These were thought to be more suited to bad weather, offering water resistance and additional warmth. Other than the material used, these jackets have a number of differences from the earlier fleece ones: they do not have fixed hard plastic radio clips, just material tabs; they have tongues for sider style epaulettes: they have removable "Police" badges; and they do not have reverse pocket openings. The date on this particular example shows that it was manufactured in 2020. It is labelled "Contract: West Yorkshire Police" because that force owns the National Framework for these jackets and all manufactured to this design are marked with that force name regardless of where they are used.