Police officers should be required to wear their uniforms while commuting in to work, a think-tank has suggested.
Increasing the visibility of police officers is often cited as one of the public's main priorities on crime.
Policy Exchange, a centre-right think tank, believes that having officers travel in uniform would increase the police presence on public transport with no extra cost.
Blair Gibbs, who is the head of crime and justice at Policy Exchange, said the policy would be cost-effective and easily implemented: “In places like London, where officers receive free travel on public transport worth £5,000 each year, it is reasonable that those officers who do travel to work on buses or trains should be expected to wear their uniform, both to deter offenders and to advertise their presence to the public".
The move has been criticised by rank and file officers.
The Police Federation, which represents officers in England and Wales, said the idea could be dangerous and did not take into consideration the risks to officers as they left their homes wearing uniform. Paul McKeever, Chairman of the Federation, was unsurprised at how impractical Policy Exchange's suggestion was, because 'the very nature of think tanks is that they are detached from rationale and engage in agenda-driven ‘blue sky’ thinking'.
However, the criticism that policemen would be endangered by wearing their uniform was rejected as "ludicrous" by a Policy Exchange spokesperson speaking to the Huffington Post UK.