WickedLocal.com – Police here have professed an eagerness to mend what they see as a strained relationship with the community, but when it comes to the clothes on their back, things appear to have hit a snag.
Officers have responded to informal discussions about whether a change in the style and color of police uniforms would help signal a positive change from the department, and the answer is a resounding “no.”
“We are not bar security, we are not valets, we are not cabana attendants. The men and women of this department consider it an honor and privilege to wear the uniform of the Provincetown Police Dept. and will continue to do so in the same manner as when we raised our hands to take an oath to serve and protect the town of Provincetown,” said Det. Meredith Lobur on behalf of the force in a letter to Acting Police Chief Jim Golden late last month.
The unspecified uniform idea had been circulated by residents as long ago as last fall after former police chief Jeff Jaran was ousted and the department found itself struggling to recover from a culture of fear and intimidation that led to widespread mistrust from the community.
According to proponents of a uniform change, a move from the department’s more tactical dark blue uniforms to something lighter and softer would go a long way in signaling a new, more positive era for the police.
The idea began to gain additional traction at Town Hall over the past month, with newly elected Selectman Cheryl Andrews and others beginning to loosely advocate for a possible uniform change during formal discussions regarding the department.
You gotta love Provincetown. The only place I know where someone suggests a full on Queer Eye For The Straight Guy makeover for the police… and the town officials support it. I don’t understand why the cops were so against it, who wouldn’t respect the authority of a police officer in capri pants and a pastel tank top?
How hilarious was the thinly veiled official police response though? “We are not bar security, we are not valets, we are not cabana attendants.” Let me translate that for you…
“We are not gay.”
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In general, the police departments across the cape simply need to be 'demobilized' from a militarized force back into the small town cops that they really are. Of course this trend has been happening all over this country in places that warrant it the least. It's a strange phenomenon to me that I feel less intimidated by big city cops who do deal with a large range of actual criminal activity on a day to day basis than I do by many of local cops who have enough free time to give someone of assumed suspicion that little bit of 'extra attention'. All the while, they hope that you'll make their day by being in possession of something your not supposed to have; or…. even better, make even the slightest move that could be interpreted as 'threatening' so they have a free hand to bounce you off the pavement a few too many times. While I personally haven't experienced much more than the occasional rudeness, I like many people have heard the stories; and no matter in what capacity one has to engage with the local PD's, that sense of intimidation is all too apparent. So yeah, you go P-Town! Remember, it is the citizens of Provincetown who pay for their Police Department. So, like in any other employer/employee arrangement, you have the right as employers (citizens of P-Town) to tell your employees (PPD) what they can and cannot wear. I know the issue is seemingly unimportant and almost silly; I really do understand the underlying issue that the people of P-Town are trying to address here.