Starting next month, Montreal's police officers will be trading in their traditional light-blue shirts, for much darker ones.

Starting on March 5th, they'll be wearing dark blue, almost black shirts instead, to match those of their pants and bulletproof vests.

Police chief Marc Parent says the new uniforms will bring Montreal's officers in line with those of other municipal forces elsewhere.

"It's a survey that we made more than a year ago, and this is why we decided to go along with other municipalities across Canada and Quebec."

At today's rollout news conference, he dismissed claims the darker shirts would make the officers appear less approachable.

Photo and video: SPVM