I was sitting at home one day when my wife came through the door and said that she met one of the guys I work with. I asked who it was, and she said, “I didn’t get his name, but he was wearing a T-shirt from your agency.”
This was the 3rd or 4th time she had said this to me, and it made me think. I was getting ready to go to the local gym to work out, and what was I wearing? Yep — a T-shirt from my agency. When I got to the gym what did I see? An off-duty corrections officer wearing a t-shirt from his prison.
My wife would have never noticed these officers, had they not been advertising where they work. I would have not met this correctional officer had he not been wearing his T-shirt. Similarly, two years ago, I agreed to help coach one of my children in a flag football league. I had never met the head coach, but I knew he was a cop. How? He was wearing his local FOP baseball cap.
As officers, we are proud of what we do. And we should be. However, we need to be mindful of how we dress when we’re off duty. The ball caps, the T-shirts, the coats: If a bad guy wants to find you, what a better way to help him.
My point is simple: Dress the part at work, not at home. Be safe my friends.