El rol de la tierra en el sistema económico de la nueva República

Due to procurement costs, when new uniforms are rolled out across BlueCorp, officers reported that it can be up to a year before every officer is wearing the same equipment and clothing. Though it was quicker with the standard items such as pants and tops, the more expensive items (for example, ballistic vests) that needed to be individually fitted were much slower.

About half the officers I observed wore the old style body armour (smooth and plain black

– see Figure 3). The other half had the same body armour but with new mesh vests that fitted snugly over the top (see Figure 4). During conversations with officers it became

clear that the old vests were impractical due to their lack of ‘attachment potential’. With

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utility belt around their waist, which in the past has come under inquiry for the uneven weight distribution. The new vests (as seen in Figure 4) allow officers to distribute weight evenly around their front and attach as many discretionary items as they desire.

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Figure 4: Old-style body armour with new mesh vests worn over the top. Equipment shown in Figure 4 (clockwise from bottom left): mobile phone, handcuffs, personal name badge, GPS radio, baton, two pens.

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‘I noticed whilst walking around the office that some PCs had varying amounts of equipment attached to their vests. Some had only a radio. PC Crimson approached and when I asked him what they were ‘allowed’ to display, he showed me his vest which had handcuffs, a Taser, four pens, radio, a large karabiner holding keys, two torches (including one personal torch), a baton, two extra Taser cartridges, alcoholic hand gel, medical gloves, leather gloves, and a body-worn video camera. It was the most I had seen by far on any PC and I wondered whether his length of service (seventeen years) caused him to carry equipment for every eventuality (because he had probably experienced nearly every eventuality during his service). I asked him about it, but he just laughed and said “I don’t know why they [other operational staff] all don’t carry all this, I definitely need it all! Maybe the new ones don’t know what they can come up against yet so they probably only think they need a torch [laughs]”’.

(Fieldnotes Excerpt: March, 2014) As demonstrated by PC Crimson, his length of service was directly related to the number (and type) of detachable and discretionary equipment. The visibility of all the

accoutrements was an emblem of his ‘experienced operational staff’ status, for colleagues

and for the public.

Figure 5shows PC Crimson’s vest with discretionary equipment:

Clockwise from bottom left: - Black leather gloves - Torch

- Spare Taser cartridges - Taser

- Handcuffs

- Body-worn video device - Police GPS radio

- Personal torch

- Karabiner holding police car keys - Medical gloves and hand-sanitiser - Baton

- Mobile phone (attached with a spiral tidy) - Four pens

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BlueCorp’s uniform rules and regulations are strict. However, in regards to discretionary

equipment (which is not referred to in the document), PC Crimson admitted, ‘[supervisors] aren’t really bothered what you have on your vest as long as it’s within reason and won’t cause any danger to you or anybody else’. While this was concurred by all of the

officers I spoke to, it made me wonder where the line was drawn at ‘within reason’,

particularly as it caused each individual officer’s clothing to look very different from the next; a uniform that was actually not uniformin style. As stated by BlueCorp, ‘managers

are expected to monitor and enforce the standards, and in doing so, have the discretion to

challenge staff as necessary regarding unacceptable standards of appearance’ (BlueCorp,

2010: 15). These ‘personal effects’ are identified with the self and are arrayed around the body) are thus acknowledged as ‘possessional territory’ (Goffman, 1971: 62). It is also argued that dress codes and discretionary equipment are subject to personal modification as police uniform policies do not circumscribe optional accoutrements. Similarly, school policies typically do not restrict student use of jewellery, backpacks, and cars which also convey status (Isaacson, 1998).

Cooke (2004: 230) noticed that there seems to be ‘a growing trend to adopt American style uniforms with the display of accoutrements by all elements of public and private police’,

and she did not recommend the continued practice for front line officers as it was ‘unlikely to improve relations with the community’. While the uniform may not be uniform, on close inspection within BlueCorp (and also in comparison to other forces), Young (1991a: 47) interestingly argued that the police had progressed to ‘dress in a uniform which is so

uniform that it is now completely interchangeable with those worn by other paramilitary

units across the world’. Though Young makes a valid point in terms of the similarities that are present with militarised units which conflicts with the desired images of neighbourhood policing, this is a very generalised observation and does not take into

account individual force preference or the frequent changes between ‘professional’ and

‘militarised’ presentations and up-close dissimilarities. Young (1991a: 72) however does

contend that the police world does, unsurprisingly, ‘value uniformity’, and as the language suggests, ‘it embodies the essentials of a system obsessed with physical and

ideological concepts of order and discipline’, which is ‘massively symbolised by the uniform’.

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