If he is smartly turned out and carried himself with pride his force would be ‘fit for duty’.
RAWALPINDI: One of the basic, in fact, the most important element of discipline, in the forces is how a member of it wears his uniform and carries himself around. If he is smartly turned out and carried himself with pride his force would be ‘fit for duty’ and its morale would be high. Unfortunately, this cannot be said of our police force whether federal or provincial. The most noticeable part is their headgear. Not only all sorts of assorted berets, visor caps and at times, even helmets are seen worn by them during an operation but also they rarely wear them correctly.
Most cap badges on the berets are sideways instead of being on the left eyebrow. The visors are turned backwards and the helmets mostly dangle around loosely. It all presents a pathetic picture of the policemen who look to be ill-trained for the operation. Now, what I do not understand is why don’t the officers accompanying their men wear any headgear? Is it some sort of mark of identification or display of misplaced authority that anyone having a piddling little pip (star) on his shoulders should be bareheaded amongst his troops?
It looks ridiculous for an officer to be in uniform and not wearing a headgear and on the top of it, waving and directing people under his command in a Casanova style during an operation!
In the parlance of proud professionals the word for such behaviour is “Being improperly dressed”, which is a matter of great shame for an officer.
May I draw the attention of all IGs that all ranks under their command must wear their headgear and properly. It will certainly help in improving the overall discipline of the force.
Colonel (retd) Riaz Jafri
Published in The Express Tribune, September 16th, 2013.
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