Police officers carrying out front line duties in Shropshire will all wear new under body armour shirts from the beginning of June.
Special constables and community support officers will also wear the specially designed shirts.
The force is the first in England to introduce the new under body armour shirts for all operational police officers and will be the first force in the UK to introduce the new shirts for community support officers.
The shirts, which will be black for police officers and special constables and dark blue for community support officers, are made from a breathable, lightweight fabric that makes them much more comfortable to wear under body armour.
The new shirts were introduced after the traditional police uniform of white shirts and clip-on-ties became increasingly impractical. Officers found the shirts were restrictive and extremely uncomfortable when worn under body armour and were not compatible with the demands of modern policing.
The move comes weeks after Shrewsbury police officer constable Ricky Gray was gunned down while attending a domestic incident in the Castlefields area of Shrewsbury.
Father-of-two Mr Gray, who was an authorised firearms officer, was shot with a .222 rifle by Peter Medlicott, who then apparently turned the gun on himself.
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3 Comments
Its like closing the stable door after the horse has bolted.
Hang on Sid, If you are referring to what I think you are, the result sadly, would have been just as tragic.
Dennis
Sadly I know the officer involved was not wearing any protection as he rushed to the aid of another officer.
But what I meant was it takes a terrible incident like this to bring out any action.
I was not being flippant.