Starting March 5th, Montreal police will stop wearing the light blue and change to a new 'black-blue' shirt to match 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 and give the force a sense of pride. At today's rollout he dismissed claims the darker shirts would make the officers appear less approachable.  I think the darker colour says authority not aggression. The new look will cost about $20,000 but the chief says it will improve morale.  What do you think?  I'll include this in the topics for the next FREE FOR ALL at noon.

Richard R. Johnson, M.S. wrote the following for Police One a law officer resourse website.

The Influences of Color

The majority of police uniforms in the United States today are produced in darker colors such as black, blue, brown, green, and grey. Just as with the style of the police uniform, the color of the police uniform has meaning. Psychological tests have found that people associate colors with specific moods. For example, red is generally associated with excitement and stimulation, thus explaining why it is often a color in flashing emergency vehicle lights. These tests have also found that the color blue is associated with feelings of security and comfort, and black is most often associated with power and strength. Studies of both high school and college students in the United States have found that students perceived light colors such as white and yellow as weak, but also good and active, The same students perceived dark colors such as black and brown as strong and passive, but also as bad. These results were not based on cultural influences because they did not vary with the race of the students.

Read more at this link > The psychological influence of the police uniform