Do you like your police men and women to wear Stetsons or peaked caps? There has been quite a lot of debate here in Canada about the decision of one of our Police Forces in Canada to change their hats from Stetsons to a peaked cap. This was reported recently in the Toronto Star. There is a lovely full colour picture of the new hat in the Star article.
Outside of Canada many believe that the RCMP (the Mounties) are our Police force in Canada. This is true in some parts of Canada but in most places Provinces (similar to States in the USA and Australia for example) have their own Province-wide and often their own city forces. It’s a romantic notion that the RCMP wear the famous red uniform but it is only used for ceremonial purposes.
Here in the Province of Ontario our Provincial Force until recently wore the famous Stetson hats as worn by many US police forces. It’s visions of Highway patrol cops on the roads “Down South”.
The Stetson was around for the force’s birth over 100 years ago it was replaced with a peaked cap in 1997. It was back to the wide brimmed Stetson in 1997. Now it’s back to the peaked cap.
Apparently practical considerations outweighed the sun protection of the famous wide-brimmed hat. There were many accidents with the “fibreglass sombrero”blowing off and being crushed by trucks. It was just too difficult to get in and out of your squad car with your Stetson on. Quite a tight squeeze eh!
The police force in Ontario reportedly like their new caps and they are being phased in. After over 10 recent years some cowboy hat nostalgia still exists.
