PoliceLink

I saw something today that made my skin crawl. I was aware that pink handcuffs could be ordered from Gall's and other police supply stores. My fiancee thought they would be a great gag gift, an item to keep personal and definitely away from PROFESSIONAL LAW ENFORCEMENT. Even for female officers, why would you disrespect the uniform by brandishing pink cuffs. We are not three year olds playing cops and robbers. I just don't see it, my agency prides itself of appearances. Can you imagine, before going to bed....taking out a fresh uniform from the dry cleaners, unwraping the plastic bag, throwing a fresh coat of polish on the already shining boots, a swipe of polish on the brass and buttons, gotta buff the buckle on the rig belt, and then placing a neon pink handcuff in the open handcuff pouch. Thats equal to placing a big neon pink bullseye on your back saying, here.....shoot me here......!!!!!! A black/brown/blue uniform, black rig, black boots, and neon handcuffs. Thats rediculous. To add disrespect to this great profession of law enforcement, I saw an officer today that made me hang my head in disgust. This officer, who works for a very small town police department within the area I am assigned, is the only officer on duty at a time. He, who is openly gay and quite excited about being a homosexual, has added one of these pink handcuffs to his rig belt. Now, I'm not knocking homosexuals, and I'm not bashing thier involvement in police work.....dont ask, dont tell. But, I know this kid and he is in fact gay. He is in fact working alone in a small, rural, country town that has little .... uhhh..... understanding for that type of lifestyle. He is very young and still very immature to hold a position with so much responsibility. But to add pink handcuffs to your rig???? He is just screaming, "kick my ass." Am I wrong here, does pink handcuffs really have a place in a professional organization and I"m just closed minded?? Any thoughts?? My sanity is in question here??

I agree 100%. There is no place for crap like that. I think the chief needs to get some balls and put a stop to that immediately.

GTS197 said:

Very disturbing...

SEO said:

What about a pink firearm? I've seen them for sale and they're the laughing stock of gun shops around here. BUT PEOPLE BUY THEM! If that cops start carrying a pink firearm with the pink cuffs, you need to stop and kick his ass yourself. Is beating somebody for being a dumbass a hate crime? Hmm.

KETOLACA said:

Well...I would imagine it will stop when some smart-aleck tries to put them on a cooperative subject who becomes offended and breaks his nose over pink cuffs. Talk about pissing someone off unnecessarily.....when the bracelets go on, its all business......no need to be childish about it. I could see blaze orange, black, blue, etc to separate inmates in the jail by classification, but no need for pink...there are enough other colors to choose from. Someone send them a box of Crayolas so they can start thinking of their next great idea........

I gave my wife a set of the pink ones. 2 reasons: because I could, secondly they won't walk off like my set of nice teflon coated, no-rust hinged cuffs. The measure of an officer is not the color of the cuffs. She has never told me of any suspect caring what color the cuffs were. I doubt any even looked at them. We also dont wear open top cuff cases.

NatalieR429 said:

Wow people need to relax...its pink cuffs whoop dee do. I see the point that it clashes with the rest of your uniform and looks unprofessional.That is if you wear a cuff case that exposes the cuff, most people I know have closed cuff holders...anywho. But I think there are far worse things that make a officer look unprofessional than colored cuffs. There is a range of colors to pick from too....yellow,orange,red,purple...weird that only pink was brought up and complained about. They arent a novelty item...they are supposed to be used to identify different classifications of your 10-15's or inmates in a corrections setting.

Pink is JUST a color....thats it. I guess that some people think its a feminine color and thus inferior in a male dominated career.I dont know thats all I could come up with. I think its pretty sad that adults would be so up in arms to write a huge paragraph about how disgusting and disturbing a freakin color is.

I don't think you guys have a problem with other officers stealing your things- like cuffs, batons, flashlights- etc, but my Marine friend had a horrible time in iraq being able to keep stupid things like shower shoes, batteries and other things- so he started wearing pink flip flops, bought pink batteries and other things in pink... never had the problem again... I use to get my ears on the ambulance stolen all the time, so I started puttin weird stickers and things to decorate it- never again. Just a suggestion that maybe a few do it so they know which ones are theirs- i'm not a cop- so I don't know how you guys differ your handcuffs.

KSP494 said:

personally I wouldn't have a problem with it, I'd borrow Natalies and ernswat's pink cuffs :)

Do they have to be furry though??

oops wrong ones

KSP494 said:

oops wrong ones

I agree that they should not be worn in view on our belts, the misconception is that the uniform is a blouse and slacks when it means uniformed in appearance. At our department we are issued all our equipment and it is considered out of uniform to add to or take away from what we are issued without an OK from command, when we line up, we are uniformed in appearance as in all of us match equipment wise.

KSP494 said:

OfficerBrandy said:

I agree that they should not be worn in view on our belts, the misconception is that the uniform is a blouse and slacks when it means uniformed in appearance. At our department we are issued all our equipment and it is considered out of uniform to add to or take away from what we are issued without an OK from command, when we line up, we are uniformed in appearance as in all of us match equipment wise.

Oh I absolutely wouldn't wear the fuzzy ones on my belt absolutely not, they stay in the glove box