The in basket: I was motoring along Highway 16 in Gig Harbor
recently when I noticed a State Patrol speed enforcement going on
across the median,
“Hey,” said my wife, The Judybaker, “that young officer just got
out of his car without his hat on. That’s against regulations.”
I asked WSP Lt. Ken Noland if she was correct.
The in basket: I was motoring along Highway 16 in Gig Harbor
recently when I noticed a State Patrol speed enforcement going on
across the median,
“Hey,” said my wife, The Judybaker, “that young officer just got
out of his car without his hat on. That’s against regulations.”
I asked WSP Lt. Ken Noland if she was correct.
The out basket: Ken says the Smokey Bear hat is considered part of
the uniform, which you may have read just won industry recognition
as the nattiest state police uniform in the nation. A trooper might
be counseled to mend his ways if he or she lets not wearing the hat
become a habit, Ken says.
But there are times when they can get away without the hat, he
said. Most interestingly, days of high wind are among them. It
doesn’t do the professional image any good for a trooper to have to
chase his hat down the shoulder or watch it run over by traffic,
Ken said.
And if a trooper has stopped a car where he fears trouble, having
the brim of the hat obscuring his vision of those in the car while
he’s looking down at a driver’s license or writing a ticket can be
a scary thing the trooper is allowed to avoid.
