Most days my chief comes in wearing just our regular uniform.

He doesn’t wear any bling or anything. His collar brass is gold and says “CHIEF”.

Sheriff of Escambia County, FL. I like him, but the bling is a little much, IMHO.

The campaign ribbons are a bit much .

quote:

Originally posted by selogic:
The campaign ribbons are a bit much .

but, but, but, but he survived the great budget crisis of '17 and weathered the PowerPoint storm of '18.

I love that we all support law enforcement but ready to give raspberries to the higher-ups who take themselves too seriously. Rightly so.

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:

quote:

Originally posted by selogic:
The campaign ribbons are a bit much .

but, but, but, but he survived the great budget crisis of '17 and weathered the PowerPoint storm of '18.

Those appear to be his USAF military ribbons - obviously I don't know how blending your military uniform with your LEO one, but that appears to be the case here.

quote:

Originally posted by sjtill:
I love that we all support law enforcement but ready to give raspberries to the higher-ups who take themselves too seriously. Rightly so.

Absooooloootely.

Atlanta's Chief isn't too bad I guess.

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:

quote:

Originally posted by selogic:
The campaign ribbons are a bit much .

but, but, but, but he survived the great budget crisis of '17 and weathered the PowerPoint storm of '18.

Those appear to be his USAF military ribbons - obviously I don't know how blending your military uniform with your LEO one, but that appears to be the case here.

quote:

Originally posted by sjtill:
I love that we all support law enforcement but ready to give raspberries to the higher-ups who take themselves too seriously. Rightly so.

Absooooloootely.

Yes, those are USAF ribbons. By the 2 qual badges above the ribbon set, he was both an USAF Security Police/Forces member, and also qualified in Space Operations.

quote:

Originally posted by Butch 2340:
Atlanta's Chief isn't too bad I guess.

That image is mirrored or the badge is on the wrong side.

quote:

Originally posted by DaBigBR:

quote:

Originally posted by Butch 2340:
Atlanta's Chief isn't too bad I guess.

That image is mirrored or the badge is on the wrong side.

It's mirrored. Look at the patch.

In Ohio, Sheriffs wear one star, the Superintendent of OHP is a Colonel. Most police chiefs wear eagles. Some get a bit full of themselves and wear 4 stars. Sheriffs outrank everyone in their county, so it's kinda funny to see some Andy-and-Barney department chief wearing four times as many stars as the Sheriff.

Perhaps I can give some perspective. I am both retired military (Air Force OSI) and a current chief of police in Wisconsin.

I wear four stars on my uniform. This is the standard in my area. I felt funny at first due to my military heritage but came to realize that this is not a direct comparison to military rank. In fact, most officers don't understand the correlation at all. For example, 4 stars do not out rank a colonel bird. They are just different. In this part of the Midwest it is common for Sheriffs to wear either 4 stars or a colonel bird while it is more common for chief of police to wear 4 stars.

In Wisconsin, like many other states, a chief wears 4 stars, deputy chief 3 stars, assistant chief 2 stars and a Commander 1 star. There is simply no comparison to military rank in regards to level of responsibility. I am chief at a smaller to mid size department. That said, I am the executive officer for my department just the same as the chief of Milwaukee PD (who runs a much larger department).

Beyond the rank issue I agree that some of the east coast uniforms, though heavy in tradition, look pretty silly. In the Midwest (specifically Wisconsin) our uniforms are pretty standard LAPD style (with LAPD style rank).

Anyway, I am not trying to defend flamboyant police uniforms, but in my experience most chiefs that wear 4 stars or eagles birds do not view themselves the equivalent to military generals and colonels.

The sheriff looks like he’s ready to board Air Force 1. Too much bling. Looks tacky.

Interesting that ribbons are worn on the right side; the opposite of the military. Is this because the LEO's badge is worn exclusively on the left side? Is there some historical precedence for this?

The Escambia County sheriff appears to be wearing military ribbons. Is this common, too?

quote:

Originally posted by 229DAK:
Interesting that ribbons are worn on the right side; the opposite of the military.

Often, but not always. Sometimes they're worn above the badge.

quote:

Originally posted by 229DAK:
Is this because the LEO's badge is worn exclusively on the left side?

Yes, the badge is always worn on the left side of the chest, when worn on a uniform shirt. But when worn on a belt, it's worn on the hip in front of the holster, which would be the right hip for most folks.

(The above is true for American police, but there are some countries whose police wear their badges on the right chest, and a number of places where police don't wear badges at all.)

Germany:


Sweden:

quote:

Is there some historical precedence for this?

It's always been that way. I've heard various theories about why the badge is worn on the left chest in my years of LE work, but nothing concrete.

It may have to do with shields traditionally being carried on the left arm, like with medieval knights.

Or it may have to do with the left pectoral being traditionally the "location of the heart", such as when putting your hand over your heart during the Pledge/National Anthem, (even though anatomically the heart is mostly centered behind the sternum with just a slight left offset).

quote:

The Escambia County sheriff appears to be wearing military ribbons. Is this common, too?

Not in my experience. But there are tens of thousands of LE agencies in the US, and every agency sets their own uniform policies, so there may be some that allow it. Or that may just be that Sheriff exercising his privileges of rank to add more pieces of flair to the uniform.

quote:

Originally posted by 2BobTanner:

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:

quote:

Originally posted by selogic:
The campaign ribbons are a bit much .

but, but, but, but he survived the great budget crisis of '17 and weathered the PowerPoint storm of '18.

Those appear to be his USAF military ribbons - obviously I don't know how blending your military uniform with your LEO one, but that appears to be the case here.

quote:

Originally posted by sjtill:
I love that we all support law enforcement but ready to give raspberries to the higher-ups who take themselves too seriously. Rightly so.

Absooooloootely.

Yes, those are USAF ribbons. By the 2 qual badges above the ribbon set, he was both an USAF Security Police/Forces member, and also qualified in Space Operations.

So how do those ribbons/badges apply to his job as police chief/sheriff?