When New Westminster police officers stood shoulder to shoulder with colleagues from across the country, their royal blue uniforms were a splash of colour in a sea of black.
The New Westminster police officers were in New Brunswick earlier this month to pay their respects to two Fredericton police officers killed while on duty on Aug. 10.
The royal blue dress uniforms worn by local police officers from time to time were introduced in 1989 after a campaign by members to create a formal uniform for the department, according to Chief Const. Dave Jones.
“What we wore then were tunics, almost like a jacket. So it was a short tunic, and it was seen as being the formal jacket,” he said.
The tunics were worn during formal occasions and when officers had to testify in court, but the members were looking for alternatives to the tunic, so, led by Staff Sgt. David Sloan, they came up with a new uniform they felt better represented the department, Jones told the Record.
“That’s when they developed the royal blue, which was meant to signify the city, so there was a bit of the city in it, and the department itself,” he added.
When the department adopted the royal blue uniforms, there was no money in the budget to buy them outright, so members who wanted one – which Jones said was everyone – had to cover half the cost of ordering them, but no one minded.
“We liked it,” Jones said. “It was driven by the membership; it wasn’t necessarily driven by the organization to create this.”
And, even when compared to the iconic Red Serge worn by the RCMP, New Westminster’s royal blue uniforms stand out, he added.
Today, the royal blue dress uniforms are given to new police officers as part of their mess kit before graduation. They’re worn when the officers graduate from the police academy and during formal events like Remembrance Day, funerals and mess dinners.
“They stand out different,” Jones said. “When you go to the graduation, we will stand out. And people comment quite often on that. It looks sharp, right? It’s different than the uniform; it just isn’t the same.”
The police department’s senior officers also have administrative uniforms, which feature a blue coat and belt. Those uniforms are often worn during semi-formal events, like the civic dinner or when new officers are sworn in.
