I'm active LEO in a courthouse security role, did the street thing way back. I'm also head of our (1,500-member) church's Safe Team (10-14 Safe active members on any Sunday). We all wear plain clothes and a specific Para-cord wrist band (okay, okay I know it is a guy's bracelet) and a 2-way radio with ear-bud. Several add a tear-away lan…
I'm active LEO in a courthouse security role, did the street thing way back. I'm also head of our (1,500-member) church's Safe Team (10-14 Safe active members on any Sunday). We all wear plain clothes and a specific Para-cord wrist band (okay, okay I know it is a guy's bracelet) and a 2-way radio with ear-bud. Several add a tear-away lanyard-nametag to the outfit. Our regular home folks took all of about six-minutes to realize and recognize that the Para-cord bracelet (okay I said it) meant someone is on the Safe Team. My thinking is, in plain clothes we blend in for those who don't really know what is going on - and for those who do know (those who can smell a cop) they see the ear bud and the waistband bulge, and they hopefully think, "Ha, over there is some of their security detail! I wonder if I might have missed anyone else on Security, I wonder how many they are? These guys are probably more squared away than I want to mess with." The only remaining demographic are those with mental/drug issues who, when confronted by several guys wearing ear-buds just don't care or aren't in a state of mind to care and a uniform isn't going to make much of a difference then.
I'm active LEO in a courthouse security role, did the street thing way back. I'm also head of our (1,500-member) church's Safe Team (10-14 Safe active members on any Sunday). We all wear plain clothes and a specific Para-cord wrist band (okay, okay I know it is a guy's bracelet) and a 2-way radio with ear-bud. Several add a tear-away lanyard-nametag to the outfit. Our regular home folks took all of about six-minutes to realize and recognize that the Para-cord bracelet (okay I said it) meant someone is on the Safe Team. My thinking is, in plain clothes we blend in for those who don't really know what is going on - and for those who do know (those who can smell a cop) they see the ear bud and the waistband bulge, and they hopefully think, "Ha, over there is some of their security detail! I wonder if I might have missed anyone else on Security, I wonder how many they are? These guys are probably more squared away than I want to mess with." The only remaining demographic are those with mental/drug issues who, when confronted by several guys wearing ear-buds just don't care or aren't in a state of mind to care and a uniform isn't going to make much of a difference then.