Port of Tilbury-Police Constable

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Students from Fashion Retail Academy visit New Scotland Yard to pitch new uniform ideas to Met officers.

Team 'Power' presenting their ideas

Date - 14th December 2019
By - Chloe Livadeas

1 Comment

 

Students from the Fashion Retail Academy (FRA) visited New Scotland Yard last week to pitch new officer uniform designs.

The project, which is part of their studies and the Met's youth engagement programme, involved 72 students from FRA between the age of 17 and 20. They formed 14 groups and were set a brief over the summer titled ‘disrupt the image of London’s Metropolitan Police’.

The students were asked to consider different officer roles, British weather conditions and what the uniform should portray to the public. Their brief also suggested they draw inspiration from the Met’s history and foreign police uniforms.

Six groups were selected by staff from the Met’s Operational Services to present their designs to the panel. The panel included Superintendent Roy Smith, Bidisha Kondal, Director of Operations, Sue Tayler, uniform fitting services and Tina Reay, Operational Support Services.

Some of the ideas presented included putting flags on the officer’s name badge to indicate which languages they spoke as well as having a map of London printed across their backs.

Bidisha Kondal said: “This has been an exciting project, the Met has been overwhelmed with the creativity and innovation displayed by these talented students. 

"This has been a great opportunity to engage with young people and to understand their perspective, and I hope to take some of their ideas forward to work on further in the future with my team and our suppliers DHL."

The overall winners were team ‘Power’, who took into account all areas of the brief.

Safer School Sgt Nikki Clarke-Rogers said: “The Met now has over 350 Safer Schools officers dedicated to working in schools and colleges across London, to build positive relationships through safeguarding and education initiatives. This project has been a fantastic way to engage with the students and in turn giving them an insight into the Met.” 

FRA student, Queenie, 19, said: “This project has given people of our age a chance to voice our opinions directly to the police.”

Another student Arthur, 17, said: “I am happy that this has given me the opportunity to present my work to a real audience.”

Sgt Clarke-Rogers said: “For some of the students the only time they’ve had contact with the police in the past is if they’re the victim of the crime. Some of them are not adults in the eyes of the law and feel they don’t get heard so it’s great to give them a voice.”

She added that the project was also about creating a trust with officers and showing that they were human behind the uniform.

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[Zulu 22 + 4,574]

Met’s Operational Services to present their designs to the panel. The panel included Superintendent Roy Smith, Bidisha Kondal, Director of Operations, Sue Tayler, uniform fitting services and Tina Reay, Operational Support Services.

I was not going to comment but then thought, have this Operational Services section and these people got nothing better to do.

As for, "Some of the ideas presented included putting flags on the officer’s name badge to indicate which languages they spoke as well as having a map of London printed across their backs". Sorry but that is trying to turn officers into billboards. One thing that I learned was not to turn by back on anyone, unless you have eyes in the4 back of your head.

[Byling * 4]

The flag idea isn’t necessarily a bad one. The map on the back is utterly ridiculous, however. 

[Member of public 1 + 270]

Met Police officers could wear world flag badges on their uniforms to show which foreign languages they speak.   https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/met-police-languages-badges-scotland-yard-a4315496.html  

[Jeebs + 1,190]

NYPD do it. Very good idea in such a diverse city with so many visitors 

[Reasonable Man + 1,231]

I’d have to have a big jacket for the flags of the countries whose official language I speak

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[Zulu 22 + 4,574]

 They want a street map on the back of your tunic which shows how much they understand Policing.